


Finder's Keepers

by K8BNimble



Category: Dark Angel
Genre: Bloodplay, Dark, Het and Slash, Multi, Sexual Assault, Stalking
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-07-15
Updated: 2012-07-14
Packaged: 2017-11-09 23:50:00
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 10
Words: 22,579
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/459873
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/K8BNimble/pseuds/K8BNimble
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Logan's sources reports that an X-5 has been rushed to the hospital. Logan thinks he finds Alec except Logan doesn't quite remember Alec being this crazy.  For Jam-Pony's Summer-fest.  Dark and violent.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Don’t Startle the Genetically Enhanced Killing Machine

**Author's Note:**

> Title: Finder’s Keepers  
> Disclaimer : I do not own Dark Angel nor do I make money. It all belongs to people more talented than I am.  
> Author: K8BNimble  
> Characters: Logan, Ben, Alec, Max  
> Pairings: There is Logan/Max. Strong hints of one-sided slashiness (okay – more over the head but that’s the story)  
> Rating: Heavy, heavy R bordering more…  
> Word Count: About 22,600  
> Synopsis: Logan's sources reports that an X-5 has been rushed to the hospital. Logan thinks he finds Alec except Logan doesn't quite remember Alec being this crazy.  
> Warnings: OMG Het sex, dark violence and obsession, blood/knife play (for violence), very slashy one-sided moments, sexual assault and other bodily harm, Logan whumpage, let’s also call some drug use and gun kink in minor ways.  
> Prompt: For Live Journal’s Jam-Pony Summerfest 2012. One of Logan's sources catches wind of a transgenic being rushed to the hospital during a seizure. Logan goes to investigate and finds Alec except Logan doesn't quite remember Alec being this crazy before and into a terrified frenzy that ends with dead nurses and orderlies and Logan as a hostage. So, okay, it's probably not Alec. OH HAI BEN.
> 
> Author’s Notes: Somewhat AU – Ben isn’t dead (but they think he is), the virus was cured In “Borrowed Time”, and this is set somewhere between “Hello, Goodbye” (which has none of the virus saga natch – just the Joshua/Annie storyline) and “She Ain't Heavy”. This is my first Dark Angel fic. 
> 
> Also – I’m no explosives experts or hospital expert – so let’s play along that since this is Post Pulse there are weird things that make these things plausible, shall we? Also – I went off the prompt a tad I think and probably made it far slashier than prompter wanted – and maybe not as much hospital terrorized and Logan hostage – as Logan terrorized and hostage (but there are dead nurses and orderlies). Also – I wrote a het sexy scene – and it’s near the beginning – GASP!

****Finder’s Keepers

_ Chapter 1 – Don’t Startle the Genetically Enhanced Killing Machine  _

“Thanks, Sebastian.I’ll see what I can find out.”Logan hung up and dressed quickly, grabbing a t-shirt off the bed where Max had thrown it at him that morning before she left on her own mission.She had a bad habit leaving her clothes everywhere.Or rather his clothes.She had a tendency to borrow Logan’s t-shirts to sleep in when she stayed over.Now that the virus was cured, that was more often than not.Max said she wanted to make up for lost time.Logan didn’t disagree with that.

He couldn’t repress a smile remembering how nice the previous evening was – to be able to make love and then fall asleep afterwards knowing she would still be there in the morning.It was still a novel experience even after two solid months.He also grinned at how hard it was to get her moving in the morning anymore.She used to wake on a dime like any good soldier did but now she seemed to relish that drowsy awakening Logan used to reserve for Sunday mornings.

Today in particular she hadn’t wanted to get out of bed.

_ Flashback _

_ Logan tried whispering, gentle shakes and the soft kisses that usually did the trick but she had just muttered and rolled over.He then tried a more extreme measure… he slid his hands under the t-shirt she had slipped on during the night and began tickling her. _

_ She woke up tackling him with one hand to his throat, the other yanking his head back by his hair and straddling his stomach. _

_ “Are you crazy, Logan?I could have killed you.”She was breathing heavy looking down at him, her dark hair in a knotted mess around her face, pillow wrinkles crinkling the side of her face.She released him and he fell back to the pillow. _

_ “Ow – I need to get my haircut,” he said flattening his hair back as he looked up at her.He thought she never looked more beautiful. _

_ She was still watching him, waiting for an answer. _

_ “You needed to get up and you were ignoring my usual wake up calls.Drastic measures were called for.” Logan smiled beatifically at her. _

_ “Logan!Have you forgotten what I’m trained for – Do not surprise me when I’m sleeping!” _

_ “Right – don’t startle the genetically enhanced killing machine.Good tip.”He smiled and reached up to pull her down for a long kiss. _

_ She began laughing into his mouth. _

_ Logan smirked up as she pulled away.“Okay – so either my morning breath has a funny taste or you have a delayed tickle response,” he said. _

_ Max laughed harder.It was good to see her so relaxed. _

_ “Yeah – your breath could use a little minty freshness right now.” _

_ “You wound me!” Logan said in a feigned insulted voice.  _

_ She bent down and began kissing his neck and collar bone.“But – I like the way the rest of you tastes.” Logan felt the words against his skin more than he heard it and it was difficult to want to stop her. _

_ “You’re just saying that to take advantage of me.I’m not that kind of guy.” He stroked her hair and she looked up at him after taking another lick up his sternum. _

_ “Oh – yes you are, Logan Cale.You are exactly that kind of guy.” _

_ “Okay – you’re right – I am.But – I will be the responsible grown-up here and remind you that you have a long trip ahead of you.You should get going.” _

_ She blew a raspberry into his belly and sat up. _

_ “Spoilsport.”She whipped the t-shirt of she had slept in and threw it at his head.She then rubbed her hands along his chest and ran her fingers through the hair there and then ran her hands up her body to cup her breasts and lightly roll her nipples with her thumb and forefingers.Logan groaned as slowly she rubbed her groin against the length of his quickly swelling shaft.  _

_ “Max, you’re killing me.It’s already 6:30.You should have been on the road at 6:00.” _

_ “I can drive fast, Mr. Responsible.” _

_ She reached down and began stroking him for a few seconds before Logan tried to regroup again.This trip was important to her but she was stalling and he knew it.He wondered if she really wanted to know where her mother’s family was.He had wanted to go with her but she had decided this first time, she just wanted to observe them alone before deciding what to do. _

_ “The plane will be…leaving…You need to…”He tried to persuade her almost half-heartedly.What she was doing felt very nice.She smiled wickedly and then reached further back. _

_ “Max!” he yelped as she lightly scraped his balls with her nails.She had been delighted when she had discovered how responsive Logan was to that little trick. _

_ She stopped touching him. “Fine then - If you don’t want this,” she pouted as she reached down between her legs and touched herself.Logan watched, fascinated, as she stroked herself in pleasure.She put two fingers to his mouth and ran her wet fingers along his lips.He darted his tongue out and only got a quick taste before she pulled away and finished with, “I guess I should go get a shower.” _

_ “You are cruel,” Logan said jokingly. _

_ She got off of him and headed for the bathroom but stopped halfway.“You could, you know, join me?Wash my back maybe?”She fluttered her long dark eyelashes at him. _

_ Logan sighed and put his heads behind his head.“I could – but then you’d never get moving and what Ireally need is a <b>cold</b> shower.” _

_ “Yeah- yeah…you better be ready for me tonight, Mister!No touching that until I’m back!” She pointed to his cock and headed into the shower. _

_ “Sometimes, I hate being a responsible adult…” Logan muttered trying to will his morning erection away.He sighed and closed his eyes.More exhausted than he thought, he ended up drifting back into a lazy sleep filled with erotic images of his girlfriend. _

__

_ End Flashback _

Sebastian’s phone call woke Logan up about an hour after Max had left.He rushed to get dressed and put his exoskeleton on which took more time than he had so he skipped the usual ablutions.He needed to determine who Sebastian had seen taken in the ambulance.His informant was positive it was a Transgenic.On the way out the door, he tried to reach his doctor, Sam Carr, to see if he could take over the patient’s case before Logan got there but Sam wasn’t answering his cell.He decided not to try Max since she would already be in the air.

On an odd impulse, he had also tried Alec.No answer.That bothered him even though he knew the likely explanation was a pretty young woman with no name sharing Alec’s bed.A small part of him remembered that Alec still usually took his calls unless he was truly _‘inflagranto delicato’_.

Logan had heard his fair share of feminine voices in the background during their calls. There were times when Logan thought Alec did that on purpose, like it was a passive/aggressive way of demonstrating he was perfectly fine that Max and Logan were now together.Then again – maybe Logan was overanalyzing again or ‘over–anal-izing’ as Alec called it when he wanted to annoy Logan.

And annoy Logan, Alec did.He knew how to push Logan’s buttons at times.Logan thought Alec enjoyed it.Still, Logan had to admit, there was an over eager puppy enthusiasm to Alec that Logan found hard to ignore and dislike.The man was a genuine charmer when he wanted to be – reckless, fearless, and funny.Logan found it odd that as much as Alec teased him about being an overachieving do-gooder nerd, he was one of the few people who treated Logan like a person and not just either as ‘Eyes Only’s’ confidant or Max’s arm candy.

He really hoped it wasn’t Alec.The description Sebastian had given sounded similar to him – male, very fit and almost pretty, about 6 feet, very short brown-blond hair with a tattoo on his neck.Sebastian had described the accident as horrific.A tractor trailer had careened out of control and slammed into a several stands on the side of the road.The Transgenic had apparently been buying something at one of the stalls and was just a bit too slow to get out of the way.

Logan tried to reassure himself that it couldn’t possibly be Alec as he would have easily leapt out of the way.For that matter, all the X-5s probably could have. 

Still – better to be certain. It was crucial that no tests be performed if it was Alec or any other Transgenic.Last thing they needed was the CDC back for a return visit or for Manticore to find out.Logan thought he wouldn’t be able to pull a helicopter out of his ass again.


	2. Finding John Doe

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> See warnings on Chapter 1. Still don't own or make any money on this.

_ Chapter 2 – Finding John Doe  _

As Logan pulled into the hospital parking lot, his phone rang. 

“Hey, Logan. Got your voicemail.” Sam Carr sounded a little groggy.

“Hi, Sam. Sorry to wake you. I owe you a cup of coffee.” Logan’s voice was still morning rough. 

“Can you actually get any?” Sam laughed. Real coffee was a luxury few could afford and even if you could afford it, it was hard to find. The Cales had their ways and Logan managed to stock up along the way. Eyes Only had to reward his informants at times and coffee was a good commodity to have available.

“I have my sources,” Logan quipped making a mental note to send him some from his stash. “Have you heard anything?”

“I was able to determine there were several people brought in from the accident and the one you’re looking for is in B Building, Room 543.”

That was the same building Max had been in, but not the same floor. “Not ER?” Logan asked. It seemed rather fast to have been put into a room.

“ER was overcrowded. They use the B Building for overflow for patients that don’t seem critical – or quite frankly don’t have the apparent funds to pay for ER treatment if it’s too full. Sad fact of life is that those who can pay get priority. Those that don’t get shuffled until someone can get to them. Building B is sometimes just a large waiting room.”

Logan grimaced. He knew the truth of that. He’d been lucky. He’d always had the means to pay and Sam could always vouch for him. Max had been lucky the day she had been brought in. It had been slow. She’d also been clearly critical which had some bearing apparently so that reassured Logan that whoever the injured man was, he wasn’t critical. Plus – it should be easier to get to him. ER always had more security in an already security tight facility.

“They did confirm that he does have a tattoo on his neck,” Sam finished when Logan hadn’t commented.

“Was anyone suspicious about why you were asking?”

“No – I called to see if they needed me to come in early because of the additional influx of patients. I’ve done it before so no one thought it was odd. I had asked if they’d been able to identify everyone. The other patients have been identified so he’s the only John Doe. They told me about the tattoo when I asked about identifying marks. Dr. Sheldon is heading up his case but I haven’t spoken to him yet.”

Logan rubbed his eyes trying to figure out how he was going to get in. He caught a glimpse of himself in the rearview mirror and realized he should have taken some time to clean up. His hair was all over the place and his scruff was scruffier than usual. He wished he had thought of grabbing some breath mints on the way out. He could hardly go undercover as a doctor like this.  


Last time his being ‘Mr. Eastman’ worked, but he could hardly claim Alec as his husband. For one, he hoped he wouldn’t run into any of the same staff but, as those events had not happened not that long ago, there was no guarantee of that. 

He could imagine that scenario: _‘Yes I was married to that woman that brought the CDC down on everyone but I’ve divorced her and married a man with the same tattoo.’_ Not too believable. 

That meant another relative otherwise he’d never have access to his room. Maybe he could claim Alec as a brother, brother-in-law, or a nephew. That way the only thing that might seem odd is the similarity in tattoos but Logan could pass that off as a family thing if he was recognized.

He put an old Mariners cap on his head he kept in the truck and went into the Lobby. It didn’t seem any different than the last time. The Lobby was nicer than most of the rest of the hospital except for the A building where high-rent patients were treated away from the regular rabble. Logan was more than familiar with that wing back when he was more connected with his family. 

He noticed a young blond woman manning the desk looking harried. She didn’t seem familiar. The guard by the elevator did look familiar though so he attempted to keep his face away from him.  


He went to the young woman and kept his voice on the quiet side.

“Hi. I uh…I’m looking for my brother.”

“What’s his name?”

“Dan Eastwood,” he sort of mumbled it so it didn’t exactly sound like “Eastman” but if he was caught later he could say he did say it.

She quickly scanned the patient log.

He started to spell it “E-A-S-T” slowly.

“Sorry – I don’t see any name like that,” she answered.

“Oh,” he put on his worried look. “It’s just that he never came home last night. It was father’s birthday and he swore he would make it. Dan always keeps his promises. I haven’t been able to get ahold of him and I was worried when I saw that big accident…” Logan trailed off and sort of choked up as if he were about to cry.

The nurse considered him for a moment and then said “We do have a John Doe. What does your brother look like?”

“He’s early twenties, just a little shorter than I am, light brown hair maybe about 170 lbs?”

“Hmmnn.. I haven’t seen him but let me call upstairs.”

“Thank you, Miss…” Logan leaned in a bit to look at her tag, “Reynolds.”

“Jackie,” she said and smiled. She dialed the phone.

“Maggie – I have a gentleman here who is looking for his brother who didn’t come home last night and thinks the John Doe from the accident might be him. Can you tell me if John Doe is about 6 feet, 170 pounds with light brown hair? He’d be in his early twenties.”

She listened for a moment.

“”I’ll send him up to you then. Thanks.”

She hung up and turned back to Logan. “Sounds like it could possibly be him. Nurse Talbot will meet you there to see if you can identify him. Room 543 in the B building. Just sign in here.”

Logan quickly and atrociously signed his name so no one would recognize it. No one ever checked to see if signatures were actually legible. Just that they saw you sign it. Nurse Reynolds handed Logan a visitor’s badge. “Good luck,” she whispered. “I hope your brother will be okay.”

“Thanks – so do I,” Logan answered and turned towards the elevator making sure he was looking around as if lost so the guard didn’t see his face.

\---

He stopped at the second floor and ducked down a hallway to call Sam back.

“Logan – are you in?”

“Yeah – but I’m supposed to meet Maggie Talbot at the room to identify him. Not sure how to get rid of her. Can you have her paged in about 5 minutes?”

“Are you going to id him as your brother?”

“Still deciding,” Logan answered truthfully. He had hoped they’d just send him to the room but with a staff member waiting on him, he had to decide how to play it. It was a large enough hospital to get lost in so he had a few minutes to plan.

“If you do, they’ll want all his information and yours,” Sam said thoughtfully.

“Yeah – but if I don’t, I don’t have a reason to stay,” Logan replied. “Unless…it wasn’t me that met with Nurse Talbot.”

“Logan?”

“Sam, you don’t by chance have anyone here that could pose as me for a few minutes to just confirm that the patient is not my brother, do you?”

“Hmnnn…I think I do. There’s a custodial worker that fairly new in the C building that owes me a favor. He’d probably do it for a price.”

“Does he like coffee?” Logan asked.

“I bet he does.” Logan heard the humor in Sam’s voice.

“Make your way over to his room and wait for her to be paged. That will be your cue.” 

“Thanks, Sam.”

\---

About ten minutes later, Logan found himself loitering off of the hallway where room 543 was. He could see a thin man with dark hair talking with a nurse who looked to be mid-forties and slightly on the heavy side. She seemed to be comforting the man. He couldn’t hear what they were saying but if the position was right, it had to have been Sam’s contact confirming the patient was not his brother and the nurse was assuring him that she was sure his brother would turn up.

“Maggie Talbot, please report to Duty Station 5C. Maggie Talbot, please report to Duty Station 5C.” The intercom broke up during the announcement a couple of times, but it was still audible.  


He saw the nurse give a big sigh and then she led the man to the elevator. Logan assumed Sam had chosen the furthest duty station possible to send the nurse to and she was ushering out the disappointed “relative” at the same time.

As soon as they slipped out, he was able to easily slip into the room.

His heart skipped. It was Alec. Bloody, bruised and hooked up to an IV and several monitors. He was also clearly unconscious.


	3. The Problem with Not Being Wintery Fresh

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> See warnings on Chapter 1. Still don't own or make any money on this.

_Chapter 3 – The Problem with Not Being Wintery Fresh_

Logan looked around but no one seemed to take notice of him. He grabbed the chart of the bed and stood behind the curtain out of range of the window. No one would see him unless they walked into the room.

Logan sighed a breath of relief when he realized Alec had no broken bones or apparent internal injuries. He was loaded with cuts, contusions, bruises. The only concern was a head injury. A CT had been ordered but no one had picked him yet. The folder had noted a sizable swelling _‘the size of a small golf ball’_ on the back of his head. The notes after that explained why he wasn’t being monitored more closely:

“Patient woke briefly. Did not remember his name but seemed otherwise coherent. Pupils contracted and dilated normally. Seemed agitated about being in the hospital so administered light sedative until Dr. Mason arrives. Dr. Sheldon ordered full blood work as patient’s temperature is elevated.” 

Dr. Mason was a local neurologist and would be the best physician to review Alec’s head injury. Logan frowned when he saw that several vials of blood had been drawn and sent to the lab already.  


He picked up his phone and texted Sam. “Bloodwork@Lab. CDC may be on way. Can U get?”

A moment later his phone beeped. “Here now. Will try 2 retrieve.”

Logan wondered what he would do without Sam Carr.

“Who’s there?” a soft voice asked from the bed.

“Hey, Alec. It’s just me.” Logan approached the bed careful to keep the curtain behind him.

Dazed hazel-green eyes looked warily up at him. “Who?” He squinted against the light.

“Wow, Alec. You really did hit your head, didn’t you? It’s Logan.”

“Logan?”

“Yes – the nerdy do-gooder you live to insult, remember?” Logan chuckled as he bent closely over his face. Logan thought he seemed a little dazed but generally alert.

“Your eyes…look familiar,” Alec said haltingly smacking his lips together as if trying to get them coordinated.

“Yeah – I get that a lot,” Logan said. “Come on.” Alec took a deep breath as Logan reached down to help him sit up. He hesitated and looked oddly at Logan. “Maxie?” he whispered.

“Um – sorry – Max isn’t here. You’re stuck with me.” Logan grinned reassuringly. “How are you feeling?”

“Hmmn…where am I?”

“Harborview.”

“Feels like I was hit by a bus.”

“Close – a truck,” Logan answered. “You don’t seem to have too many injuries. Must be all the X-5 juice in your veins,” Logan said. “Little concerned about that bump on your head, though.”  


“X-5? How did you…” Alec blinked, clearly confused. “Hospital?” Logan swore he heard a slight growl.

“We have to get out of here, Alec.” Logan continued without hearing the other man talk. “They’ve taken blood samples and if they realize they have another Linda Eastman on their hands, we are screwed.”

Alec attempted to sit up. Logan wrapped his arm around his shoulder in support. 

The man turned his head into Logan’s shoulder and breathed in again. He shivered and looked up at Logan again with a pained expression.

“Sorry I’m not exactly wintery fresh, Alec.” Logan snorted in irritation. “Sort of in a hurry to save your ass.” Only Alec would even notice something like that when he’s been that injured. Logan had a random thought wondering if Transgenics had fewer pain receptors in their noses since their sense of smell was so much stronger – like dogs. Further back his brain reminded him that Alec had feline not canine DNA so maybe not. Still, it was sort of insulting. He didn’t think he smelled that bad.

“Maxie!” Alec whispered urgently and it occurred to Logan that’s what the problem was. He had Max’s smell on him and an X-5’s enhanced sense of smell would clearly be able to differentiate Logan’s and Max’s smell. And Logan was wearing the shirt she slept in the night before. 

Needing to get Alec to move he nodded. “Yes, Max was with me this morning as usual. Sorry – she couldn’t come herself. She’s out of town, remember? Like we need to be: get out of here, now.”  


Just then a nurse walked in with a small cart. 

Logan’s heart sank. The window to get out of here cleanly had just slammed shut.

“Sir, what are you doing?”

Logan began patting Alec on the back. Logan noted that Alec seemed pale and nervous as he stared at the nurse. Small beads of sweat were starting to form. His breathing was a tad shallow.

“Sorry. I heard him choking on the way past and came in to help him sit up. Are you okay, mister?” Logan asked Alec before pushing him to lay back down. Alec struggled against him. “No – no hospitals,” he grunted.

“I can take care of him, sir,” the nurse said. She was a petite woman, mid-thirties with a no nonsense look about her. She wore the standard nurse’s uniform which was neatly tucked and pinned as much as her hair was underneath its cap. She wore no make-up but she had on simple gold earrings and gold chain that had a pendant which disappeared under the top of her uniform . “They’ll be coming to take you down for your CT shortly.”

“No!” He looked at Logan pleadingly. “Get me out of here.” 

The nurse tsked under her breath. “You need to have your head injury looked at. I have a shot that will relax you a bit if you’re nervous.” She picked up a long needle.

“No Shots!” Alec practically shrieked as he pushed his way back to full sitting status pushing Logan off of him. His eyes were wide with fear. Logan didn’t blame Alec for not trusting any medical personnel given his history. Still, his reaction seemed a little overdramatic.

“Don’t wanna be here,” Alec muttered. “Maxie,” he looked again to Logan as if begging for help. “Get me Maxie.”

Logan frowned. Alec was either acting up on purpose for some reason or he really did need his head examined. He gently tried to push Alec back down and smiled to try to reassure him.

“Sir, you need to relax to get better,” He said loud enough for her to hear and then whispered, “Alec, play along – you’re causing too much of a scene.” He was almost breathing directly in Alec’s face and the green eyes widened more. 

As he was distracted, the nurse slipped the needle into the line and quickly administered its contents.

Logan noted Alec’s face becoming flush and his face contorted as if in pain. Alec’s eyes dilated quickly. Logan could barely see the usual green as his pupils were blown out. 

“What was in that?” Logan looked up and asked the nurse, concerned about the unusual reaction.

“A mild sedative. We use it for conscious sedation.” Logan thought it was overkill but she continued on, “ It should take the edge off.” She turned away to put her things back. “You really need to leave sir. I have this under control.” She was clearly dismissing the ‘good Samaritan.’

“NOOOO!” Alec sat up screaming. He was panting heavily and Logan noted he was now sweating profusely and was red in the face. Clearly something was not under control.

“Nurse, I think something…” Logan started to say but was stunned when Alec grabbed Logan’s right arm in a painful grip and yanked him forward. Logan stumbled onto the bed. He was lying awkwardly on his right side, arm trapped under him. 

He rolled to his back but Alec had quickly shifted positions and was kneeling on the bed, one knee pressed into Logan’s ribs holding him in place. He used his free hand to yank the monitor cables off his chest and head. 

The nurse spun around to stop him. He knocked her across the room and slid off the bed on the same side where Logan’s legs were scrambling for purchase on the floor.  


Alec ripped the IV line out leaving a small trail of blood.

Logan tried to stand now that Alec wasn’t pressing against him but just as he pushed up to stand, Alec pushed him back down. His legs still dangled off the side of the bed. It arched Logan’s back in an awkward position and pressed the exoskeleton uncomfortably into his tailbone. At that moment, Logan wished the last transfusion had stopped working as he wouldn’t feel any pain, but now he did. There was a sharp brutal stabbing from where exoskeleton and bone competed to be in the same space.

In Logan’s peripheral vision, he saw the nurse had gotten back on her feet and was calling for Security. He had to get them out of there before all Hell broke loose.

“Maxie!” Alec bent over him and grabbed Logan’s jaw painfully and pulled him up to a forty degree angle. Alec looked as if he was sniffing the air around Logan’s face. Logan grabbed the rail at the end of the bed to give himself some leverage, but his other arm had nothing to grab onto except Alec. Instead, he used that arm to push against Alec’s shoulder, but the man grabbed it with his other hand and shoved Logan’s arm behind his back, forcing Logan’s hips to arch higher. He felt Alec’s groin pressing against his. 

“Alec…stop…what are…” Logan hissed in pain. “Let me go.”

Alec smiled. A deadly, feral grin that Logan had never seen before. They were just inches apart and Logan felt the sweat drip onto his face from Alec.

Alec took another deep breath right at Logan’s mouth. “I don’t think so,” and pulled him up into a kiss – or rather a feeding frenzy. Logan felt Alec’s tongue pushing its way in and licking inside his mouth. The fingers were bruising his face and Logan didn’t know what to think. He couldn’t breathe either. His vision was starting to get a bit fuzzy.

The nurse was trying to separate them for all the good it did. She must have weighed 100 pounds soaking wet. Her dark blond hair was coming out of its bun.

“Stop it! Now! Stop!” Her voice had gone up several octaves.

Logan was trying to pull away but Alec was extraordinarily strong and held him as he mapped out Logan’s mouth. Logan didn’t want to – but he had to stop Alec. He had tried to get his legs between them. The strength of the exoskeleton might be enough if he kicked him in the gut, the inflexibility of the unit prevented him from getting his legs where they needed to be.

Instead, in desperation, Logan bit Alec’s tongue. Not too hard – he didn’t want to injure him but hard enough get him to stop whatever the insanity was that had overtaken him.

Alec growled instead as he pulled back. A slight trace of blood outlining his teeth. Then he laughed. That scared Logan even more.

Alec pulled Logan off the bed and onto the floor before straddling him. He captured both of Logan’s arms and pressed them to the floor above Logan’s head and held them with one hand. Trapped into position, Alec began smelling, biting and licking Logan’s neck. Logan bucked up to push Alec off of him. Damn – the man was strong. 

“Stop!” The nurse waded back into the fray apparently to impatient to wait for Security seeing the imminent danger Logan was in as Alec ripped his shirt down the center.

Logan looked up at nurse who watched in horror as Alec bit Logan’s nipple hard enough to draw blood. Logan grimaced against the pain and the subsequent feeling of Alec sucking on it.  


Alec looked up at Logan with an odd expression that Logan couldn’t interpret.

The nurse tried to get between them and pull them apart. Alec glanced over at her, a vicious gleam in his eye and slight grim to his face. Logan knew there was something seriously wrong.  


“Alec…” Logan implored, sensing something terrible was about to happen.

The man stared at the pendant that had slipped out from beneath her uniform. Alec gazed at it thoughtfully.

“Are you a believer?” he asked her, remnants of Logan’s blood still outlining his lips and teeth. He licked at the blood. Logan heard a low purr as he turned from her and looked back at Logan as if studying him. The nurse tried to shuffle back apparently very aware of the danger she was in but the movement caught Alec’s attention.

Logan tried again, “Alec, please don’t do...”

Without looking back at Logan, he released Logan’s hands and grabbed his hair instead, slamming Logan’s head into the floor. Logan’s head felt like it exploded. He thought he heard, “Not Alec…” and a woman’s scream cut short before he blacked out.


	4. Broken Toys

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> See warnings on Chapter 1. Still don't own or make any money on this.

_Chapter 4 – Broken Toys_

Logan started becoming aware of a painful throb in his head and the sounds of shouting. There was a strong grip under his arms and around his chest dragging him backwards. He felt nails scraping into his skin. A hard, round pressure was pressing against the side of his head.

“BACK OFF!” a loud voice bellowed by his ear.

He tried to open his eyes. The fluorescent lights were off and only the emergency lights lit the corridor. It blurred the images in front of him. Red lights were blinking disorienting him even more. 

Logan remembered that was standard operating procedure if someone had hit the emergency hazard distress alarm. 

“Let him go,” a male voice said calmly. “There’s no need to hurt anyone else.”

 _‘Anyone else?’_ Logan thought, trying to figure out who had been hurt.

“He’s mine.” Logan heard a possessive growling underlying Alec’s voice that he didn’t understand. 

“Alec?” Logan whispered as he tried to look around. He felt himself dragged farther back. He realized he couldn’t move his arms. They seemed to be tied behind his back. Not with handcuffs or a rope of any kind. The fabric was soft but knotted tightly. Felt like his own tee-shirt had been used. He certainly didn’t have it on anymore as he felt the cool breeze of the air vent blow onto his bare skin.

“Shut up!” He felt a nip at his ear then a lick across the back of his head. He wasn’t sure, but he thought he felt blood seeping down there as well.

Logan blinked. He was able to finally make out the man in front of them. A security guard. Logan could see he was overweight and sweating profusely but trying hard to keep control of the situation. There were several other people crouched behind the nurse’s station. He also noted a pair of legs lying just outside the doorway of the room they had been in wearing the same uniform pants as the guard. Blood was pooling in the doorway. He took a quick glance to the right through the window and thought he saw the blond hair of the nurse on the floor.

“There’s nowhere for you to go. The elevators have been locked down and the stairwells blocked. No one leaves this floor when a hazardous emergency alarm’s been triggered,” the guard said. “Put the gun down.”

Logan finally recognized that the pressure was a gun pressed against him. He swallowed his fear. 

“Alec…wha..?”

“I said, ‘Shut up’!” Alec hissed in his ear. Logan felt the arm grip tighter and wasn’t sure if Alec was talking to him or the guard.

“Now – put the keys on the floor and kick them over to me,” Alec instructed the guard. “Do not move forward.”

“If you kill him, you have nothing to protect yourself,” the guard said. 

“True.” Alec pulled the gun away from Logan and took aim at a young orderly shaking in fear behind the desk chair. His eyes were peering in the crack between the seat pan and the backrest. The bullet went right through the security grate, the gap in the chair and his forehead in less than a second. 

An older woman screamed and the next bullet put her down. _‘Nurse Talbot,’_ Logan recognized belatedly. The poor woman must have returned from her false page just in time to be taken and killed.

“Next person that makes a noise dies. Now,” turning back to the guard, “kneel, put that key on the floor, hands behind your head and push it over here.” 

The guard did as he was told. 

“Logan was it?” Alec said in his ear. “Pick it up.”

Logan shifted in confusion as Alec pulled his arms out from around Logan’s chest. What was wrong with Alec? 

He turned to face him. The expression was so devoid of anything Logan recognized as Alec, he didn’t know what to think. Blood was smeared along his face. Logan wasn’t sure if it was his or Alec’s or some other unfortunate’s. 

“Hands are tied,” he said sort of mumbling trying to make any sense out of this chaos.

Alec grabbed his hair and pulled back. “Use your mouth,” and then pushed Logan down. Without his arms to brace him, Logan fell on his face. He felt his glasses crunch. His jaw slammed against the linoleum sending sharp waves of pain radiating up his face. He was just glad he hadn’t bitten his tongue.

A sharp kick in the ass pushed him forward.

Logan looked up at the guard before lowering his head to the ground. He rolled to his side and scooted himself across the floor a couple of more inches to get to the key ring. Using his teeth, he picked up the key ring. Logan did not want to think where those keys had been.

He rolled to his stomach and kneeled up. As he went to stand, Alec kicked the back of his knee in. Logan felt a part of the exoskeleton break and his knee gave way. It caused him to go back down. 

“Kneel.” Alec stood next to him running his hands through Logan’s hair as if he were a pet dog. The keys hung from Logan’s mouth. He yanked Logan’s head back and took the keys from his mouth. He ripped the broken frames off Logan’s face. Now everything was even harder to see. Logan’s vision wasn’t terrible, just not great. 

“Good boy.”

Logan reddened in humiliation and thought about biting Alec’s hip but knew that wouldn’t really do much. He stayed kneeling by Alec’s side as he tried to get his bearings and figure out what was going on.

“The rest of you, in the room,” Alec waved the gun towards a small supply closet. Five panicked souls raced towards the closet and ducked inside. The guard started edging towards Alec as he closed the door and locked it. Without warning, Alec spun and wrapped his arm around the meaty neck. Logan heard the distinct crunch of a broken neck. The guard went down. Alec bent down and collected the handcuffs and the guard’s gun and tucked into the back of his pants. At some point, Alec must have grabbed the jeans he had been wearing when he was brought in. Logan noted he had no shirt and no shoes on. In a moment of panicked absurdity he snorted an unexpected huff of laughter at the thought of “no service”. 

Alec turned and looked at him as the laugh escaped. _‘Fuck,’_ was all Logan could think. He had to get his act together. Alec walked slowly towards him with a smile on his face.  


Logan scrambled backwards on his ass as quickly as possible to get away. He couldn’t seem to get back on his feet. He didn’t know what was wrong with Alec, but he was clearly too far gone to reason with him. Logan needed to get away or find a way to stop him. Maybe it had been the meds? Max never did well on meds but they had never made her like this. 

Had some latent Psy Ops order been triggered? Randomly Logan thought of an old movie before the Pulse about a killer being triggered by some stupid ad for snack bars. How had they stopped her? A code word? Maybe Max would know it. It was a long shot.

Except Max wasn’t here. Only Logan was.

He had managed to scramble back passed the original room heading towards the elevator. He saw the other dead guard up close and confirmed his suspicion that the nurse was the first one whose neck was broken. 

In the second he took to register the bodies, Alec was on top of him. He crouched between Logan’s legs tilting his head as if studying Logan.

“Now, Logan…where were we?”

Logan looked up at him.

“What the fuck is wrong with you, Alec?!” Logan shouted for lack of any other response he could think of. You just killed those people.”

“Yeah - so? They were in the way.”

“In the way – way of what?” Logan started to ask.

Right then Logan’s cell phone rang. They both looked at the ringing coming from his pocket. Alec sat back on his hunches and smiled. He rummaged around Logan’s pocket and pulled the phone out. 

“Let’s answer it. Maybe it’s Maxie. If it is, I’d like to see her.”

“Forget it,” Logan said. Alec looked at the phone and chuckled.

“But look who’s calling,” he said in a singsongy voice. 

Logan looked and saw ‘Alec’ on the incoming call screen. It was a picture Alec had taken of Logan and himself at Crash one night using Logan’s phone. Logan had been making an unpleasant face over a strong drink Alec had ordered and Alec had been laughing at him. “You need someone good looking on this phone, Logan.” Alec had said as he added the image to the caller id log. Logan had called him a “disturbed egomaniac” but kept the picture.

Logan looked at the photo and then quizzically at the man hovering over him. 

Alec looked at it the image. “Well – this ought to be interesting. I’ll put it on speaker seeing as you can’t hold it,” he said indicating Logan’s bound arms.

Logan didn’t say anything at first.

A tinny “Logan?” came through the speaker.

Alec bent down and whispered in his ear, “Answer him.” He reached down to squeeze Logan’s balls hard to ensure cooperation.

Logan squeaked, “Hello?”

“Where have you been?” a very familiar voice said.

“Who is this?” Logan asked. Alec chuckled and let Logan go and knelt back up to his original position.

“It’s Alec, you twat – who else would be calling you on my line,” the voice said. “Are you high or something?”

“Or something…” Logan said, confused. The man beside him covered Logan’s mouth with his hand. Logan glared at him and tried to bite at his hand, but the man pinched his nose to prevent him from breathing. 

“I see something’s happening at the hospital. The news is calling it a hazardous chemical spill and are evacuating the building but one of our buddies on another floor said he heard gunshots and that you’re there looking for uh…one of us… Wanted to make sure you were okay. Our friend said he didn’t see you outside. Also, I can’t get find Max.”

“Max?” The live version of Alec hissed into the phone. He crouched down and began licking down Logan’s belly. “I want Maxie. She left me undone. She needs to finish me.” His voice was deep and throaty – almost too soft to hear. “Or I need to finish her.” 

Logan gasped.

There was a hesitation on the other end of the line. “Logan?” 

Logan shrieked as the man bit him hard in the soft meat just above the hip. Logan got his good leg under him and kicked as hard as he could. Logan got lucky and got him in the gut. The man went flying a few feet.

He rolled over and got up on his knees and to his feet and ran towards the stairwell, limping a little favoring the good leg.

“Logan…” Alec’s voice called more urgently.

“Logan can’t come to the phone right now, Alec. He’s a little busy.”

“Who is this? Where’s Logan?”

“Tell Maxie, ‘Ben says ‘Finders Keepers’”. Ben stood up and stepped on the phone, smashing into a million pieces.

\---

Logan had finally realized this was not Alec. That left Ben – which was impossible. Max had killed him. Unless she lied. 

He dismissed that thought. Max would not have lied about that. It had crushed her too much for that.

Maybe they had made more copies than just Alec and Ben? 

Did it matter if he had a name? He just needed to get away.

He had tried the elevator but remembered the guard saying it was locked down. That meant the only option were the stairwells. If the authorities thought this was a chemical attack – the unit would probably come in through them. 

He decided at least if he got to one, he might have a chance at getting out. He still needed to try to figure out how he was going to put a lid on this but he had to be alive to do that first and he did not have the feeling that was an option if he stayed. He wasn’t really sure why he was still alive. Ben had certainly shown no hesitation in killing anyone else.

He realized as he passed several rooms, there were still patients in some of them. Mostly those who were hooked up and weren’t able to get evacuated quickly enough. The doors were sealed shut – no doubt another security precaution. 

He hadn’t seen anyone else. He assumed the floor had been evacuated as soon as shots rang out. He wasn’t sure how long he had been out before he regained consciousness in the corridor. He could assume long enough for the authorities to be called. 

Logan assumed the majority of the medical personnel on this side had escaped with the most mobile of patients. How long had he been out? He didn’t think it could have been more than a few minutes but apparently long enough to make him and Ben the only mobile people on the floor.

Logan was almost to the stairwell when he heard footsteps and whistling behind him and realized he wouldn’t make it. Ben seemed to be taking his time but Logan knew it wouldn’t be long. He ducked into the nearest door which proved to be a single toilet bathroom. 

He needed to get his arms free. Of all the useless rooms for him to be in, the bathroom was the most useless. There wasn’t a thing he could use to either cut himself out of his bindings or to use as a weapon. 

He was at least able to lock the door behind him.

Looking around, he saw the only thing with a remotely sharp edge was the paper towel dispenser. At least it wasn’t one of those heat dryers. The only issue is he couldn’t get a good angle. He needed another option.

Outside the door, he heard scuffling where he thought the stairwell was. Maybe help was already there?

He suddenly had the thought that maybe his exoskeleton had the answer. There were some screws he might be able to get at.

He sat on the floor and tried to get his pant legs rolled up to see if he could see anything. He was in luck. On the side of the ankle there was a small screw. If he knelt down and bent backwards he could just get the edge of the fabric under the lip of the screw. He tugged furiously at it in the hopes the soft cotton fabric would tear easily. He skipped the knot and went for the thinnest part of the material.

He hadn’t gotten too far when he heard the knock at the door.

“Logan…Logan…Logan…I can smell you in there. Where do you think you can go I can’t smell you?”

Logan realized he really couldn’t hide but maybe he could delay him by distracting him. 

“No guess I can’t. So uh…I guess you’re not Alec,” Logan knew it was stupid but he didn’t know what else to say.

“You Ordinaries are just so observant,” Ben said with a snark. Logan could hear the clinking of bullets. He thought the man was reloading.

“Well – I certainly don’t have genetically superior eyes,” Logan quipped. He felt tearing and knew the shirt was starting to give. “You’re not Ben,” he stated to cover the sound of the rip.  
“You sound pretty sure of that,” the man said, scraping a nail lightly across the wood door. 

“Well – I know Ben is dead so you must be another one that was made from the same genetic material.” Logan was furiously pulling along the sharpened edge and the fabric was giving way.

“Certainly Maxie left me for dead.” He sounded amused and a little disappointed. “I was thinking I could do her the same favor in return.”

The fabric gave the whole way and Logan’s arms were freed but he froze in place.  


“Uh…what do you mean…exactly?”

“Your blood is delicious, Logan. You don’t just have Maxie on you – she’s in you. Why is that? What makes you so special?”

“Uh – I uh…” Logan didn’t really have an answer so he just said the truth, “She donated some blood to me.”

Just then the door was ripped off its hinges. Ben stood there grinning at him. Logan hid his arms behind his back quickly and pretended they were still tied together. He held the fabric in his fist.  


Ben hunched over Logan wedged against the toilet tank. Logan didn’t have any room to maneuver. “I tasted me in you too and I know I haven’t donated. I may have to take it back.” 

He swiped his fingers through the blood on Logan’s belly. “My blood – her blood – your blood.” He smeared it across Logan’s skin. He lifted his fingers and licked his forefinger, “Mine,” licked his middle finger, “hers,” licked his ring finger “yours… it’s all mixed up in there, isn’t it?”

He began painting a pattern with his finger across Logan’s face. Logan thought about biting him but realized that was suicidal at this point. He couldn’t make any sense out of what Ben was saying.

“Ben – we can help…,” Logan tried to reach him, to talk him down.

“We? Do you mean Alec? Who is he to you? What are you to him?” He grabbed Logan’s hair and pulled back and stared at him.

“A friend…” Logan explained as Ben began to bite along his jawline, teeth sharp and cutting against his skin. His head was pressed against the tank.

“And Maxie – is she just a friend too? I smell her all over you. I smell the one that betrayed me. She enjoys herself on you but left me a broken bloody toy for Manticore,” Ben hissed in anger.

“She said you asked her to do it,” Logan whispered, eyes wide in fear. Ben put his thumbs against Logan’s windpipe and Logan couldn’t breathe.

“I asked her to do it right – not leave enough of me for them to put back together. But they fixed me all up again – but they fixed me wrong.”

Ben’s eyes glazed over and began rhythmically rocking into Logan’s stomach as he continued to choke Logan. Logan was beginning to black out. He struggled to get his hips to push Ben off of him.

Suddenly Ben let go and Logan gasped for air. “But she found a new toy, didn’t she? A new toy she likes playing with. Does she like playing with you, Logan?” He slid down lower on Logan’s body, nails scraping deeply into Logan’s skin as he shifted positions. He left four long scratch marks down each side of Logan’s ribs. 

Logan couldn’t help but shiver even as the gulped in oxygen. Adrenaline ran through him. He was terrified and could barely think straight. 

Ben unbuttoned Logan’s pants. “I think I might like playing with you, too.” It took all of Logan’s will not to put his hand on top of his to stop it. It was the only element of surprise he had left. All he needed was a way to use that element to the best of his ability and he didn’t have that yet. 

Ben slid Logan’s pants down over his hips.

“Naughty boy doesn’t wear clean underwear to the hospital,” Ben laughed. “What would Maxie say?”

Ben ran his hands curiously over the frame of the exoskeleton on his hips. “Is Logan a broken toy, too?” he tapped the metal frame as if sizing it up. “Does explain how the boy toy kicked so hard,” he said quietly as if talking to himself. “Ordinaries don’t usually manage to get a leg up on me – so to speak.” Ben looked up and smiled at him for a moment. When Logan didn’t respond, he bent down and sniffed along Logan’s groin. “So does Maxie break all her toys? She’s been here, too. I can smell her on you,” he whispered and took a small lick. “I can taste her on you, too.” 

Logan shuddered in revulsion but saw his opportunity. He hoped he didn’t lose anything vital trying this.

As Ben bent down over him again, he used his left arm to grab the gun out of the back of Ben’s waistband and put it to the side of Ben’s head.  


“Back away,” Logan ordered.

Ben looked up at him and grinned. “But I like you, Logan.” Logan released the safety and Ben backed up to allow Logan to stand.

Logan backed out of the room aiming the gun at Ben who held his arms up in mock surrender. Logan knew he should do it. He should kill Ben. Max would understand. Alec would understand. But Logan had never just killed anyone. He hesitated.

Ben laughed, “Don’t point it if you ain’t gonna use it.”

Ben had wanted to die. That’s what he said, right? Max just hadn’t done it right. Logan could do this. He closed his eyes and fired. Nothing happened. Logan looked at it in shock.

“Took the bullets out while I was waiting outside the door. I figured you’d try something like that,” Ben said. “You’d have disappointed me if you hadn’t.”

Logan dropped the gun and ran. He made to the stairwell and realized it was blocked by the body of a patient handcuffed between the emergency exit sign and a rather large potted tree. Ben must have moved it into position before he kicked the door in. His stomach lurched at how fast and remorseless Ben was. 

Logan looked back to see Ben picking the gun up and reloading it. “Yes – Logan I like you very much. I like you so much I want to break you myself.” Logan heard Ben laughing as he ran down the hall.


	5. Keeping His Cool

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> See warnings on Chapter 1. Still don't own or make any money on this.

_Chapter 5 – Keeping His Cool_

Alec heard the crunch of the phone after he heard a voice that sounded remarkably like himself. _Ben…shit,’_ was his only thought as he ran to his bike to get to the hospital. He was two sectors away. That would take at least an hour. Good thing he always kept his sector pass on the bike. He tried Max but no luck. He considered leaving a message but remembered she had gone out of town that morning. She was too far away to help so leaving a message would only cause her panic. It was up to him. Terminal City was even farther away and Alec couldn’t wait for reinforcements. Most likely Logan would be dead if Ben was really hunting him. Probably was already. His heart sank.

“No…no that’s not happening,” Alec said to himself as he started the bike and headed off.

Not saving Logan never occurred to him. 

\---

Logan wished he knew this facility better. He vaguely recalled every floor having its own emergency generator since regular electricity was more a myth than reality. Every floor looked the same – grimy, cold, and not quite sterile. Everything was made of cement and metal. There were safety grates to keep the staff ‘safe’, a mix of working high tech equipment and jumbled messes boxes and cables attempting to do jobs they weren’t designed for, assorted gurneys, wheelchairs and carts lined the hallways. General disorder.

He did recall each floor had redundant security protocols. Since the Pulse, there were so many more violent incidents at hospitals. The black market paid high prices for stolen medicine, stolen equipment, and trained medical personnel. Logan also remembered an incident three years prior when an entire floor had been held hostage while emergency surgery was performed on a drug lord. Fortunately, he survived so only a couple people were killed and a few more injured to ensure the cooperation of the staff. And there was the incident in which a politician was shot in his bed by a wandering patient.

Those incidents are what drove all the additional security measures and procedures which now seemed to have trapped Logan on this floor. All the patient doors were sealed, locking them in their rooms until situations could be handled. Only medical personnel could access them in an emergency.

He knew the X-5 could smell him from a distance. Ben had been right. There was no where he could hide unless he could either get his scent off of him or get someone else’s scent on him. Logan laughed – he didn’t really think a shower would save him but he sure wish he had taken one earlier. Max’s smell on him seemed to have triggered this insanity but he had no idea why. Max hadn’t indicated that Ben had any interest in her other than just a fellow X-5. Although knowing Alec was supposed to have been her “mate”, was Ben’s DNA somehow wired to Max? Was Alec actually ‘programmed’ for her? He cut the thought short. This was not the time to attempt to figure out the complexities of Manticore’s Frankensteinian interferences with human genetics. 

He turned the corner and saw the walk-in cooler. He remembered each floor had one in case of emergencies. For lack of a better plan, he thought that might cut the smell.

He listened carefully behind him and thought he heard Ben but he was walking slowly and making no attempt to hide his footsteps. _‘And why would he,’_ Logan snorted to himself. _‘It’s not like I’m much of a challenge.’_ He also heard the sounds of phones ringing at the nurse’s station and random medical equipment beeping and chirping. Somewhere a heart monitor alert was going off. Knowing no one was there to respond to it, Logan grimaced. He couldn’t even attempt to save that person and hoped it was faulty equipment.

He quickly ran down the hall, turn the corner, rubbed a random door with his arm hoping it left enough of a scent then doubled back feverishly hoping Ben had not caught up yet. He could hear whistling in the not too far distance – the same tuneless whistle as before. In the lone miracle of the day, Ben wasn’t in the corridor when Logan slipped back in. Logan realized that Ben seemed to think that hunting Logan wouldn’t take a lot of effort. He hoped that overconfidence would be his Achilles’ heel. Logan quickly opened the door of the cooler and slipped in. 

It was small as he expected. Only about five by five. Mostly it was locked shelves on one side which Logan took to be pharmaceuticals that needed to stay in cold storage. The left side had shelves of chilled pads and bags of ice. Cartons of juice boxes also lined the shelves for patients. There were also several random drinks he could only assumed belonged to the staff. Looked like some of them stored their lunches as well. 

Logan didn’t dare sit. He needed to think. There wasn’t much in the way of a weapon in the room if Ben did track him. His best bet would be to sneak back out once Ben went passed and double back on his own scent. He thought he recalled seeing a garbage chute door on his way in. It was possible the slide wouldn’t kill him.

Of course – that still left Ben here with those people locked in the closet. Could he get them out that way? He’d have to trap Ben somewhere to do that. That wasn’t likely.

He wasn’t sure how he would save those people. Ben hadn’t hesitated to kill anyone yet. _‘Except me.’_ The thought popped into his head and screamed for attention.

Why hadn’t Ben killed him yet?

At first it seemed like he was a hostage but once he locked those people up, he should have either locked Logan up or killed him. He didn’t need Logan anymore.

And he certainly could have killed him on the floor or in the bathroom.

Instead he had taunted him, teased him, played with him…like

Prey.

He looked down at his bare belly and saw the bite mark on his stomach and the bruise now forming around it. He looked at the matching mark on his nipple.

Was the scent of Max on him causing Ben to act like this? Hunting him. He went back to the thought of the Manticore mating experiments. Could that be part of this? Somewhere in Ben’s programming, the scent of Max’s pheromones on Logan had instigated a rutting instinct? Except that his own male hormones had confused Ben into thinking he was competition? 

Another thought occurred to him. Maybe Ben was trying to use Logan to bring Max here? That’s what he said to Alec on the phone. But now that Alec had proof Logan was alive, Ben didn’t need Logan anymore. Logan felt sure that might be true but that the first scenario explained his behavior more. 

Now he had to figure out how to work with it that theory. 

Shit – was Ben trying to fuck him or kill him? He couldn’t think of any other reason Ben had acted so…feral with him. Remembering the last words as he ran, he thought maybe both acts were on the menu.

He shivered at the thought. Or maybe it was just the cooler that was the reason he was beginning to feel cold. He had been in there about ten - fifteen minutes. It seemed awfully quiet in the hall but he couldn’t be sure that wasn’t just the cooler insulation blocking sound.

He ripped open a bag of ice and grabbed a couple of chips to wipe the blood off of the bite marks. It occurred to him to use it to wipe himself down with and that would wipe Max’s smell off of him. He couldn’t decide if that smart or not. As he considered these theories, he couldn’t quite fit in the fact that Ben said he sensed himself within Logan. He didn’t know what that meant or how it was affecting Ben’s reactions.

If Ben was acting on instinct and his instinct said something of his mate was on Logan, that could save Logan just by making Ben hesitate. He was sure now that was why he wasn’t dead yet. Ben wasn’t quite sure if Logan was prey or pack, rival or mate. Ben acted like a wild cat that hunted for the thrill. Logan knew that as long as Ben was focused on him, he stood little chance, but maybe everyone else did. The trick would be to hold his interest enough until someone could stop Ben. Logan thought that someone would probably not be him.

He heard a slight whistling followed by, “Come out come out…wherever you are,” Ben’s voice echoed in the corridor. “Or little Miss Caroline here will get to visit our Lady very, very soon.”  


Logan froze. Then he heard the sound of a woman crying followed by a weak, halting voice…”Please…ple..ase…I don’t want…he’s going to kill me!” she shouted breathlessly. 

“You heard the lady. I’m going to kill her unless you come out to play. Of course, I might kill her anyways,” he said with a laugh.

Logan heard the sounds of a struggle and opened the door. “NO!!”

Ben stood about 20 feet away with a petite woman held in his grip. She was wearing a hospital issued nightgown so was obviously a patient. Logan wasn’t sure where Ben had found her but it didn’t matter. She looked wan and frail, her long dull brown hair hung in her face as he held her wrist in a fierce grip. 

“Wait – don’t,” Logan said, swallowing his fear. _‘Keep his focus on me,’_ he thought to himself. “I’m…here. Let her go.”

Ben looked at the room where Logan had come from. “Smart. No wonder I couldn’t quite figure out where you went.”

“Lot of good it did,” Logan snorted sarcastically. 

Logan’s attitude actually seemed to please Ben as he smiled at him and nodded. “Miss Caroline will think so. I’m impressed by your quick thinking so I’ll reward you by letting her live.”  


She was sobbing. Logan could see her arm was broken. Ben probably hadn’t even realized he had done it. He wasn’t even looking at her. 

“Thank you. Just let her go. You’re hurting her.”

Ben looked down and examined the creature in his grasp. “Oh – I broke her wing. Oops.” He dropped her to the floor but pointed the gun at her head. 

Logan looked at her. “Don’t move. It’ll be okay – just stay calm,” he said reassuringly. He knew if she tried to run, Ben would kill her. Her only chance was to not move a muscle and let Logan lead Ben away.

“Now – speaking of broken, I want to see just how broken you are, Logan.”

“What do you mean,” Logan asked.

“Well – it’s not really a fair chase if you have that metal frame on.”

“Fair? I’m just an Ordinary, aren’t I? It’s the only thing that would remotely make this fair,” Logan said hoping Ben would prefer the thrill of a hunt with someone more his equal.

“You’re anything but ordinary, Logan,” Ben said walking closer to him, dragging Caroline behind him by the neckline of her gown. “You don’t smell ordinary,” He sniffed at Logan’s neck. “You don’t taste ordinary,” Ben licked a path up the side of Logan’s face. He dropped the girl and grabbed Logan’s jaw staring intently into his eyes, “And I’ve finally remember where I’ve seen your eyes before. Of course, this is not a hack and I certainly plan to make it last more than 60 seconds.”

Logan took a sharp inhale as Ben studied his face. He couldn’t quite fathom how Ben recognized his “Eyes Only” identity. And whether that changed the ‘game’ for Ben.

Ben released him and stepped back a couple of feet. He pointed the gun at the girl lying on the floor.

“Now...strip or I put a bullet in her.”


	6. Caught in the Teeth

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> See warnings on Chapter 1. Still don't own or make any money on this.

_ Chapter 6 – Caught in the Teeth _

Alec was panicked. There was a long checkpoint to get out of the first sector. It was almost an hour since the call. He had to get across this sector and into the next. That would take another half hour. He hoped to hell that Logan had found somewhere really good to hide. He’d never met his brother, but he had certainly heard the stories and they freaked the fuck out of him. Not only that, apparently Max hadn’t killed him which meant Manticore had gotten their hands back on Ben and who knew what shit they stuffed his head with. 

Ben sounded as if he was on a hunt. Alec knew a few of the soldiers who were trained as hunters like he was trained as an assassin. They were messed up. Assassins were trained to be cool, smart, methodical, and unemotional in their missions but the Hunters were trained to track a scent and ruthlessly hunt – much like wild dogs or cats. They were vicious, single-minded and didn’t stop until their prey was caught and the things they did to the poor bastards when caught turned Alec’s stomach. Manticore kept Hunters for missions where they wanted messy, painful deaths or excruciating torture in the event death was not a desired outcome. Assassins were used for clean, orderly kills. Alec hoped the hell he was wrong but he had the distinct feeling that Logan was Ben’s prey.

He sped up at the mental picture of Logan’s belly caught between Ben’s teeth.

\--- 

Logan felt naked. Of course he was – but more naked without his exoskeleton on and still no glasses. He was more vulnerable than usual. He stood with his arms raised up in surrender. So far his legs felt as sturdy as he could hope for given the length of time since his last transfusion – which he suddenly remembered had come from Alec. He received regular transfusions every two weeks which generally kept him mobile but the beneficial effects tended to wear off as the cycle wore down. Unfortunately, they’d learned increasing the frequency would only increase the need creating a vicious circle like a drug addict. He’d learned to live with the general weakness and occasional failure his legs experienced on the last few days before the next transfusion. He hoped they’d hold out for him now.

Logan stood in the hall staring at Ben who seemed to be analyzing him. He was grateful the girl had closed her eyes.

“What game should we play now?” Ben asked.

“How about ‘let the girl go and we figure out how to get out of here’,” Logan suggested. 

“That sounds awfully practical,” Ben snorted. “Who taught you how to play games?”

“Ben, it won’t be long before this floor is swarmed with soldiers and the police. Swat teams are probably outside already.” Logan had to keep him talking and get him out of the hospital and away from people.

“For a chemical spill? That is what they reported. I’ve even heard the news reports on the TV at the nurse’s station,” Ben said dismissively.

“They’ve probably figured out that there is no spill but the media wouldn’t be told that. The phones have been ringing for awhile and no one has answered. Odds are at least one person got off this floor as soon as they heard or saw the commotion and probably told someone that a patient had taken a hostage. Even if they think a chemical scare is real, they’ll just have the soldiers wear Haz mat suits to clear the scene before the Emergency workers arrive but those soldiers will be armed.”

“You don’t think I could take them?” Ben asked as if Logan’s opinion really mattered.

Logan wasn’t sure if he should stroke Ben’s ego or if honesty would piss him off. “Even X-5s die, Ben. All it takes are a few more bullets more accurately placed.” 

“Honesty, I like that. You may be right. We should get moving.” Ben smiled as if they were boon companions on a heist together. “Lock the girl up in the cooler. I don’t need dead weight.”

“Ben, she’s sick. You can’t put her…”

“If the authorities are as close as you think, she won’t be there for long. Do it or I’ll just ice her here.” Logan hesitated. “I’ll even let you put a note on the door, how about that?” Ben offered.

Logan smiled weakly at the woman. “Come on..it’s safer for you this way.” She got up and walked quietly. Logan spied a gurney nearby. “Can I at least grab the blanket off that for her?”

“You really are a do-gooder aren’t you, Logan Cale?”

Logan winced remembering the many times Alec called him that. Ben really did know who he was – both as ‘Eyes Only’ and his real identity. That did not bode well for his future anonymity if Ben lived and went back to Manticore. 

“Sure, why not?” Ben answered. “It’s not like she’s the one I’m interested anyways.” He smiled broadly at Logan. 

Logan shivered at the implication. On the other hand – it meant he had the potential to get Ben way from other people.

\--- 

“I have it on good authority you already know I have hostages on this floor and that this is just not an accident,” Ben said into the phone.

Logan was handcuffed to the heavy gauge wire screening the nurse’s station. They were behind it and his arms were cuffed above him as he faced the corridor. Ben was standing behind him using the desk phone on speaker. Ben’s hips pressed Logan’s into the desk and his legs were kept apart by Ben’s in between them. He had been warned not to make any sounds. Not that Logan could have thought of anything to say that would help.

“What is your name?” came the calm, authoritative voice on the other end.

“How about you call me ‘Alec’?” Ben said.

Logan felt Ben’s hand stroke down his back. He tried not to squeak.

“Okay, Alec. What is it you want?”

“I want out – that’s all. Safe passage out of here. I don’t like hospitals. Get me a helicopter on the roof in an hour.”

“Okay. How many hostages do you have and is anyone hurt or dead?” the man asked. 

“Is the number important?”

“Need to know what to expect,” he said.

“Logan, tell the man how many we have,” Ben grinned.

“You have a partner?” the man asked.

 _‘Damn…’_ Logan thought. He had to let the man know he was not part of it but he knew Ben was testing him.

Logan cleared his throat, “Uh…there are at least five in the supply closet, one in the walk-in cooler and the patients locked into their rooms. They’re all okay,” he said without mentioning the ones who were dead. He hoped that counted before he added, “And myself,” Logan added, knowing it would set Ben off but he needed to let them know Ben was on his own.

He howled as sharp instrument stabbed him in the shoulder.

“Logan? Ben – Ben what have you done?” the man asked.

“Logan, how could you? I thought we were in this together,” Ben hissed in his ear. “You’re mine…You’re me…you’re her…you’re mine.” He twisted the instrument sharply and yanked it out. Logan felt blinding pain and warm blood on his skin. He felt Ben licking and biting at the wound. Logan tried to shake him off which just caused Ben to latch on harder. He froze as he felt the blade against his neck.

“Ben…Ben, don’t hurt him. You haven’t hurt anyone else yet – we can get you out of there peacefully.” The voice carried over the phone and finally seemed to get through to Ben.  
He stopped biting Logan and snickered into Logan’s ear. “You are _very_ smart.”

Ben released him and turned back to the phone. “He’ll be fine. What you should know is that in the last hour I have managed to gather all the necessary ingredients for a rather large explosion – oxygen tanks, nitroglycerin…you know the all ingredients are here. I will blow this facility to the sky if you don’t get that helicopter here.”

“You would die, too, Ben”, the man said.

“Wouldn’t be the first time,” Ben answered. He was back to stroking Logan’s chest and back possessively and licking his skin. “Not sure I would mind that much,” he added. “But your hostages would as would the folks of this fine city who would no longer have a working hospital.” Ben stopped talking to worry at the wound on Logan’s shoulder. Logan grimaced in pain as he felt Ben’s tongue delving inside the wound and widening it. 

“You don’t want to do that,” the man said during the pause.

“Not really – but I would like you to evacuate all the other floors and remove all personnel from the stairways. No one should be in them.”

“Alec, we can get you out without the copter if that’s all you really want,” he said.

Ben stopped and continued his conversation. “Also, in case you were thinking of shooting the copter down – you should know I have this remotely wired to a dead man’s switch on my cell. I have no desire to blow this fine institution up. Just want out. So – evacuate folks, get a copter here and I’m gone. No harm done – Scout’s Honor,” Ben said as he traced the blade along surgical scar on Logan’s back from the bullet wound that left him paralyzed. Logan didn’t feel as much along it but he felt the blood oozing onto his skin. He wasn’t sure how wide or deep Ben was cutting.

The man on the line hummed and then said in a conciliatory tone, “B building was already evacuated. That began as soon as the Haz alarms went off for the fifth floor. The building was also locked down from the Lobby Gallery and C Building behind it. I will verify the stairwells are clear in five. You will have clear access to the roof.” 

“In five then,” Ben hung the phone up. 

“You haven’t really built a bomb, have you?” Logan asked, deeply concerned.

“No – but they don’t know that. I certainly could if needed – but all I need is that they believe I did,” Ben answered.

Logan felt relieved. “Don’t go directly to the roof, Ben,” he whispered. “SWAT will be waiting. They won’t believe you about the remote trigger,” Logan said not knowing why he was saying it except that for everything Ben had done – he wasn’t sure he was in control since this all seemed to start with the IV the nurse had administered. Besides, Max would want to deal with him herself.

“Thanks, genius. I am a trained soldier. I know a vulnerable spot when I see it,” Ben said but Logan’s statement caused Ben to relax a bit. Logan saw him set a pair of bloody scissors on the desk. “I do think they’d rather let me go then risk losing the only hospital in town. As far as they know, I’ve hurt no one except possibly you. But they won’t care that much – one person in exchange for a hospital? They’ll think that’s a good deal, particularly since they don’t know who you are.”

Logan turned his head to face Ben. “Oh…” Logan realized they were right. If they thought the likeliest way to save the hospital was to acquiesce to Ben’s terms, they’d do it. Logan would be a fair price.

“But…see now I know you are mine.” 

Logan quivered. Maybe he had made the wrong decision. 

“I’m already inside you.” Ben growled as he licked more blood off of Logan’s shoulder. He began biting at the wound. “Now – what can we do with five minutes?”

Logan winced as Ben bit deeply into his shoulder and clawed his way along his sides. Logan would feel blood well up in the shallow wounds and Ben would lick it off. 

Logan couldn’t quite understand Ben’s fascination with his blood. Unbidden, Ben’s comment replayed in his head, _“My blood – her blood – your blood”_ and it hit him. Max was his most regular donor but she could only give once a month. Alec and Joshua were probably the next two who offered most often but they were probably once every two to three months. Logan hated asking for it more frequently. That’s probably what Ben was picking up on - the mix of the more frequent donations from Max with the more recent on of Alec lacing Logan’s blood. And Alec would be the same as Ben’s. No wonder Ben’s senses were so fucked up.

Ben bit deeper and harder causing Logan to yelp. He felt Ben growing hard behind him against his naked skin as Ben began slowly humping him. 

“I know a game we can play in five minutes,” Ben whispered as he reached up to uncuff Logan. He spun him around and pressed him against the desk.

Logan was sure Ben was going to take him on this desk. He couldn’t face it. He couldn’t be raped. 

With his arms now free, he grabbed the nearest, heaviest object he could find and hit Ben across the temple with hit. Ben staggered sideways and Logan ran.

\---

Ben looked up to see Logan tearing down the halls but he could see a decided weakness on the left side. His prey’s legs were beginning to fail.

And this was the game he wanted to play: ‘Catch and Release and Catch again.’ When his prey finally gave up and gave in, Ben would be satisfied – but for now he loved the hunt. He licked Logan’s blood clean off his teeth. _‘Delicious.’_


	7. Nice Pants

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> See warnings on Chapter 1. Still don't own or make any money on this.

_ Chapter 7 – Nice Pants _

Watching all the commotion at the hospital now that he had arrived, Alec had bitten his lip in frustration. So hard in fact, it was bleeding. The bittersweet tang set off an alarm in his head. His blood tasted off. It threw him for a minute trying to figure it out. He licked at it like others picked at scabs as he scoured the site trying to figure out how to get into a building where everyone was being forced out behind a barricade.

He knew the taste of his own blood from the many times he’d been in fights or screaming in pain from some Manticore procedure. He never cared for the taste of it but he could certainly recognize it was different now – even if only slightly – as if whatever had changed it was starting to fade.

With a sudden epiphany, he had what the transfusions meant. Unlike a normal transfusions used for replacing lost blood, theirs was more like a swap. In order for Logan to be able to absorb enough transgenic blood, he had to make room for it. So it was now a two-way procedure deemed safe for the donors as the DNA of the Transgenics would overwrite anything Logan donated to them. He wasn’t just donating his blood to Logan – he was also taking Logan into himself. He had Logan’s blood inside him. He could sort of recognize the taste and scent of the man lingering underneath his own. It seemed – hinky. That was all well and fine for Max to have the scent and taste of her lover inside her – but Alec wasn’t sure how he felt about it. 

What he did know with a sudden certainty was that Ben would certainly pick up on it in Logan. What that meant for Logan, Alec didn’t know but it terrified him. Alec’s scent within Logan would be much stronger than Logan’s was within himself since the Manticore genetic structure tended to overwhelm anything else.

Ben as a Hunter would be far more apt to be a slave to his senses than Alec trained as an Assassin would be. He would smell ‘himself’ in Logan if Logan were cut in anyway. Alec was sure that had already happened based on the phone call. Alec was certainly attuned to his senses but was trained to ignore any sense of animal instincts in favor of cool, logical planning per his “Assassin’s training”. Hunters were trained in the opposite way – they were encouraged and honed to use their animal instincts to catch their prey. 

Damn…they were caught up in one fucked up giant knotted Manticore hairball, weren’t they?

And how the hell was he going to get in?

\---

Logan had almost made it to the stairwell. At least this one didn’t have any corpses draped across it. He pushed hard but the lock hadn’t been released yet. Another couple of minutes. 

‘Fuck,’ he thought.

He had hoped that they might have been open. His left leg was beginning to throb. He could feel it wanting to give out. He probably wouldn’t be running too much longer. He was tired, bleeding, and sore as hell.

He saw a laundry cart left in the hall about two doors up. Someone must have been in the middle of delivering clean scrubs when the commotion started. They had apparently abandoned the cart for safer floors since it was so close to the stairwell. 

He grabbed the cart and rolled it around the corner. He could hear Ben coming. Seeing some green pants on the cart, he grabbed a pair and hurriedly put them on. He would have tried to be quiet about it but realized there was no point. Ben was on his scent so he just moved quickly instead to get dressed.

They were a little short on him, but he didn’t care. As ridiculous as it was – having pants on made him feel much more optimistic. He thought of grabbing a shirt but realized he didn’t have time.  
There was a small circular mirror in the corridor as there was at every corner for safety reasons. Logan ducked below the cart but kept an eye on the mirror. He could see Ben approaching the turn in the hallway. Hoping the “object may be closer than appears” illusion wasn’t too far off – he rammed the cart as hard as he could just as he thought Ben was turning the corner.

For once, luck was with him. It knocked Ben sideways, against the wall. 

Ben grunted as the force knocked the air out of him. 

Logan pulled the cart back to ram it again but Ben was quick to recover and was able to jump onto the cart to lunge at Logan.

Instead Logan let go and Ben rode the cart backwards a few feet losing his balance. Logan ran the other way. He heard Ben laugh.

He didn’t make it more than thirty feet before being tackled to the ground. His chin hit the floor as he went down. The jolt shot through his entire body and he wasn’t sure he hadn’t broken his jaw this round.

“See, wasn’t that fun?!” Ben asked, stretched across Logan’s back. He handcuffed Logan’s arms together behind his back.

“Super,” Logan muttered half conscious, winded and just about ready to give up. His head was spinning and Ben grabbing it one more time and slamming to the floor didn’t help.

“Now – time to go,” Ben said as he knelt up and rolled Logan over. Logan looked up at Ben grinning at him. The red emergency lighting behind him made him seem as if he had a demonic halo.  
Logan felt himself being hefted up and thrown over Ben’s shoulder. He was trying to get his bearings as he was bounced along.

“Nice pants, by the way,” Ben added as he smacked Logan’s ass with his free hand. Logan tried to struggle but he was in no position to do so. 

The stairwell door opened to Ben this time and he carried Logan up the stairs to the top floor even while Logan was trying to shrug himself off of Ben’s shoulders. The blood was rushing to his head which was still throbbing. He felt dizzy and faint. The sounds of Ben’s whistling a sharp pinpoint in the blackness that threatened to overtake him.

Logan felt Ben climbing the stairs. He squinted against the daylight that brightened the stairwell through large windows at each landing. 

\---

Alec was scouting around the fringes of the crowd trying to figure out how to get in. He’d worry about finding Logan once he was inside. 

There was a flurry of activities as busses were pulling up to take the most mobile of people and patients away from the scene. There were a few ambulances loading more critical patients. There were still a number of people to be removed off the premises so Alec was able to blend easily into the crowd.

Seeing that most of the police and Swat units were focused on the front left building as he faced it, he assumed that must be where they were. He saw a young uniformed officer approaching a man behind a police van looking at hospital architect plans. He got as close as possible to them order to hear what was happening.

“Sit Rep?” the man reviewing the papers asked.

“All of A and B have been completely evacuated. Floors 1-5 on C and Floors 1-6 D are evacuated. Looks as if C only has two more floors to clear but they are the more critical care units. D has four. It has ten floors – not eight like A and B buildings.”

If Alec remembered correctly– Building A was for the high up muckety mucks that had cash and status and B was the one they were pointing to.

“ER patients?”

“Still working on those since they’re a bit more problematic – but all the mobile patients have been evacuated and about 75% of the more critical ones have been moved to the University Clinic until this is resolved or we can get them to St. Mary’s – but that’s two hours away. How likely do we think this guy could really build a bomb the way he said?”

Just then a third person joined them, a short young woman wearing a bomb squad uniform. She was completely covered and Alec could only tell she was a woman by a prominent bustline and scent. 

“According to admin, the parts are all there – although not sure on the dead man’s cell phone trigger. Is that possible?” the man in charge said.

The person spoke confirming her gender with her voice, “Yeah – with as many oxygen tanks available on that floor? Probably just a spark would be needed if he’s left a valve open. All he needs is a spark to ignite it could cause a cascading explosion: first from the rest of the tanks on that floor and then probably to all the subsequent floors if any of the shielding doesn’t hold.

“How does he get it to spark remotely?”

“Probably as simple as creating a short in a cell phone receiver near it and all he has to do it dial the number. On many phones these days, it wouldn’t be hard to preprogram a call. It’s probably not so much a dead man’s switch as an ‘I’ll cancel a preprogrammed call.’

“Odds of that happening?” the young officer asked?

“Slim, but do we want to risk that he doesn’t know how to do it?” the woman asked back. 

The man in charge took a deep breath. “The Mayor doesn’t so the helicopter’s on the way. Mayor’s convinced he really does just want out and if we can by possibly only losing the one hostage – he calls that a win.”

“Except for Logan,” the officer said.

“Who?” the woman asked.

“The hostage.”

“Alec may not feel the need to take the man with him. He may end up just fine,” the other man said but sounded unconvinced.

Alec realized two things: one - they were giving up on rescuing Logan and were going to let Ben escape on the helicopter. And two – Ben had used Alec’s name as his cover which he just knew was going to bite him in the ass in the near future.

He had to worry about problem one now and the other problem later. Alec was sure that Ben had no intention of letting Logan go and once he got him on that helicopter – Logan would be a goner – if he wasn’t already dead, that was.

\--

Logan got his bearings back a bit and took all his remaining strength to swing his bound arms up and under Ben’s groin. Probably wasn’t the smartest thing to do on a stairwell as Ben dropped Logan who bounced down several steps before hitting the landing. Logan rolled and slid sideways to get back onto his feet. He began to run down the steps. He’d made it two flights before Ben had jumped in front of him at the sixth floor landing. 

He had caught up by jumping over the angle of the steps and sliding over the banister. Ben was faster and more athletic than Logan normally but now – Logan knew he couldn’t beat him physically. He had hoped he’d distracted Ben for longer but just hadn’t been able to get enough momentum behind him.

Ben smiled and backed Logan towards the back wall of the stairwell against the window.

“If you wanted to go down on me, Logan – you could have just asked,” Ben smiled. He head-butted Logan which caused Logan’s head to smash against the window pane. The glass cracked at the impact but didn’t break. Logan’s head felt like it was going to. He swooned trying to get his feet but Ben spun him around so the side of his face was pressed against the grimy glass. 

“We’ll have plenty of time to play later,” Ben said as he licked up the side of Logan’s throat and face. His arms were wrapped around Logan’s chest and each hand painfully squeezed Logan’s nipples.

“Yeah – I’d like to skip recess,” Logan blurted – although it came out half slurred and unintelligible. So much for witty rejoinders.

Ben didn’t answer. He just grabbed Logan’s bound arms and drug him up the stairs. Logan scrabbled to get his feet under him but Ben was hauling him too fast. Logan felt the shoulders straining at the socket and thought they would both be dislocated before long if Ben didn’t stop pulling him or if he couldn’t get onto his feet. At the next landing, he managed to get traction, but just barely. He managed to stay on his feet to the eighth floor and which point Ben picked him back up but this time bridal style. 

Logan was too exhausted to fight and chose to try to catch his breath for a few minutes. He noted the florescent lights were on in this hall. It was easier to see but Logan still couldn’t see a way out.  
Ben whistled as he carried him.

\---

Alec had slipped off to the side of the building to get a better sense of the area. In a moment of luck he looked up in time to see a figure walk past a grimy window with body heaved over his shoulders. He recognized his own profile climbing the stairs. He thought that was Logan he was carrying. 

Then he saw the back of the man’s head crack against the sixth floor landing window. The figures were murky but sure enough, in a few moments the person’s face was pressed against the glass and Alec confirmed it was Logan. He then saw Ben’s face beside Logan’s and even through the dirt and scum on the glass; he could see Ben licking Logan and his hands on Logan’s bare chest.  
Logan looked in pain. Ben looked way too happy. 

Alec was transfixed seeing the tableau before him unable to look away but knowing he needed to do something.

His stomach churned as he watched Ben haul Logan away from the window. It spurred him into action.

Alec looked around and saw a dumpster. He noted there didn’t seem to be as many people on this side of the building. He saw one of the bomb squad members walking behind a bush. He assumed to take a leak – and how unprofessional of him to do that then so Alec thought it only fitting that he relieve the man of his uniform as he relieved himself.

One unconscious and stripped bomb squad member later and Alec was able to slide behind the dumpster with few people thinking it was odd. They all probably assumed he’d been assigned to look for explosive materials around the ground.

There was a small window behind the dumpster. After a quick look around told him no one was watching; he broke the window with a stone on the ground. The noise of the police and the news crews hid the sound of breaking glass. 

He was able to slip in, cutting his hands on a few shards of glass on the way in. Cursing, he was able to grab a paper towel from the exam room he had landed in and wiped himself off as he looked around.

The room itself was small and dismal. He thought only the dregs of society would have been looked at in that room. The walls were peeling and moldy and supplies were few. He took the helmet off as he couldn’t really see with it. He headed off towards the top floors where he knew they were headed.


	8. The Lady’s Favorite

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> See warnings on Chapter 1. Still don't own or make any money on this.

_ Chapter 8 – The Lady’s Favorite _

Logan was strapped down. Ben was whistling around him looking at surgical instruments.

“What to do…what to do…” he muttered.

Ben reached into his pocket and pulled out a small gold chain.

“I haven’t forgotten you, Lady. Oh – you want me to mark him for you…” he said to the pendant.

Logan wasn’t sure who he was talking to but he recognized the pendant Ben was dangling before him. It had belonged to the nurse.

“The Lady would like you to wear this.” Ben put the necklace on Logan. Logan remembered Ben’s obsession with the Lady as his personal savior. 

“Tell her thanks but no thanks,” Logan spit out. He recalled Ben tested his prior victim’s to see if they were worthy of her protection. He wasn’t going to play that game.

“You aren’t a believer?” Ben asked.

Logan eyed him and plainly said, “No.”

He was sure that would set Ben off. It did – but not in the way Logan thought it would.

“There are days I don’t believe either. But today I do.”

“Really –why is that?”

“Because she sent you to me,” he answered.

“What does that mean?” Logan asked.

Ben jumped up on the gurney and straddled Logan’s stomach.

“I almost died. I didn’t. She let me live for a reason. Then there you were – smelling like me, like Maxie – not only that – you were my primary mission. Manticore’s number one mission that any other mission was subordinate too – Capture ‘Eyes Only’.”

“I feel so honored,” Logan said sarcastically.

“You should. The Lady bundled up my number one mission and the lover of the woman that betrayed me and put me inside him. Gave him to me to play with and make my own. You are my reward for serving her.”

“I’m not yours. You smell Alec in my blood. It’s only a transfusion,” Logan tried to explain.

Ben didn’t hear him.

“Do you know what I want to do to you? To show the Lady how much I appreciate her gift to me – I want to take you. I want to swallow you whole. I want to show Maxie you are no longer hers.”  
“Why do you want me? I thought you wanted Maxie?” Logan said ‘Maxie’ in a singsongy voice, impersonating Ben’s earlier request. “That you needed her? ” 

“I need her – destroyed – betrayed – dead - like she did for me. But you – the Lady gave you to me. So you’re mine and I will do her will and accept her gift and enjoy it.” Ben almost glowed in his fervor.

“I somehow don’t think Max will let you do that,” Logan said.

Ben looked at him again. “Let me explain, in detail, everything I am going to do to you – and her and maybe even Alec.”

Ben laid across him and began whispering in his ear and interspersing his desires with bites and licks along his ears and neck. Logan about puked when he got to plucking his “Eyes Only” out – but that was so far down the list that Logan was sure if Ben had done a quarter of what he said, Logan would be dead or insane. 

Ben sat up smiling.

“Let’s start with the Lady’s favorite.”

He began nipping and biting at Logan’s neck and shoulders.

“You have beautiful teeth. The Lady will like them very much and it’s not like you’ll need teeth for what I want to do to your mouth later.”

\---

Alec could smell them before he saw them. He may not be as driven by his sense as Ben, but he certainly had enhanced senses. 

Logan was covered in his own blood and the tang of the scent hit him. It smelled of Logan, of Max and of himself. He could also smell himself of Logan’s skin – the scent of Max lingered there but as he looked through the broken glass of the door, he saw Ben nipping and biting Logan’s neck and shoulders. Logan was strapped to a gurney that was locked down. His eyes were wide with fear as Ben straddled him.

Alec couldn’t deny the scent of fear had a certain appeal but he suppressed that. 

Logan was shirtless but not completely naked to Alec’s relief. He also noted Logan had a necklace of the Lady on which surprised him. He knew Logan wasn’t religious. He wasn’t sure why he’d be wearing it but Ben was certainly mouthing around the necklace and along the open wounds on Logan’s shoulder and chest. 

Ben was also only in pants – but Alec could clearly see a gun tucked into the back of the jeans. It was disturbing on many levels to his own spitting image molesting Logan.

He was almost transfixed by the scene. Until Ben sat up and had picked up a surgical blade and was trying to pry Logan’s mouth open.

“You have beautiful teeth. The Lady will like them very much and it’s not like you’ll need teeth for what I want to do to your mouth later.” Ben seemed enamored of Logan’s mouth.  


Alec shivered. He quietly found a fire extinguisher nearby and picked the lock open.

He could only assume Ben hadn’t heard him as he was too occupied by Logan. He kept his fingers crossed this would work.

He burst through the door and blasted the fire extinguisher right in Ben’s face. He tried to avoid hitting Logan but knew some of the chemical would fall on his skin. Wasn’t much he could do about it.

Ben fell sideways off the gurney and Alec sped around the side and cracked him in the temple with the canister. Before Ben could stand, Alec picked him up and threw him through the door. He then quickly unlocked the gurney and rolled it to block the door and locked it again. Ben had gotten up and pounded against the door while Alec quickly unstrapped Logan.

“Alec?” Logan asked. He was conscious and aware – but Alec could tell he was woozy. Alec saw Ben pull the gun from his waistband.

“Hey, Logan. You sure know how to find a good time,” Alec quipped as he pulled Logan off the gurney and onto the floor.

“Yeah…”

Ben pounded on the door.

“He’s mine…he’s mine…you can’t have him,” Ben was screaming. He was waving the gun around again so Alec and Logan ducked and sat against the gurney – their combined weight keeping it pressed against the door and preventing Ben’s entry.

“Sounds like you have an admirer,” Alec said. He grabbed the sheet of the gurney and pulled it down so Logan could wipe off any residue from the extinguisher.

Ben stopped yelling and disappeared from view.

“How the hell are we getting out of here?” Logan muttered as he cleaned himself up a little. Alec sensed his exhaustion.

Just then the sound of the helicopter could be heard approaching. Alec and Logan looked up, leaning away from the gurney.

Just then, Ben crashed through the door. The gurney slammed into their backs, knocking both men over. Ben grabbed Logan’s arm, “Think that’s our ride,” he said. And dragged Logan out of the room.

He threw Logan across the floor and grabbed a broom propped against the wall he had sat their earlier and wedged it between the handles of the two doors. When Alec went to pull the doors in – the doors got caught on the handle. Alec could open it wide enough to slip through.

“Ben – don’t!”

“Alec – you must be Alec, right?” Ben said. He sniffed at the air and smiled. “Nice to finally meet you – but we have to go now.”

Alec yelled, “Enoct Norum!” He noted Ben also seemed to have been able to clean himself off. 

Ben looked at him with a confused expression. “What the hell is that?"

Alec grimaced and said, “Control word? You know one of those words Manticore programmed to stop you in your tracks?”

Ben just stared at him. “That’s a load of shit.”

“Actually – it wasn’t. That was mine,” Alec admitted. He could see Logan moving behind Ben so he wanted to keep Ben distracted.

“What does it mean?” 

“No idea really – think it was just nonsense so no one would accidentally say it.” Alec laughed. 

“Those Psy-Ops bitch did a real number on you, didn’t they?” Ben observed.

“Actually - never really worked on me that well. Used to piss Lydecker off.”

Logan swung the chair in his hand as hard as possible and cracked it across Ben’s head. Ben staggered sideways and growled. 

Alec saw the feral look in Ben’s eyes. Ben was furious his prey was fighting back again – but also thrilled about it.

He whispered, “Don’t kill him, Ben. Don’t. Max will find you. She will hunt you down if you do this.” Alec said through the door opening hoping to appeal to any logic remaining in Ben.

There was none.

“Good.” Ben smiled.

“Logan – run!!” Alec screamed.


	9. Up in the Air

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> See warnings on Chapter 1. Still don't own or make any money on this.

_ Chapter 9 – Up in the Air _

Logan had made it to the stairwell again – but just as he got there – Ben caught up to him and grabbed him from behind, dragging him up the flight of steps instead of down which was where Logan had wanted to go.

“Bad kittycat – running away from me like that,” Ben said bouncing Logan up the steps.

The roof door opened and Logan felt the sudden rush of fresh air through him.

“Out of the copter,” Ben yelled at the pilot pointing the gun at him. Logan was struggling until Ben shifted his arm to put a choke hold on Logan. 

The pilot got out and walked away. “Tell your boss, thanks. You can keep your hospital.”

Logan could see him with his failing eyesight as he began passing out. _‘Fuck – the guy was going to just leave him,’_ Logan thought. “There’s no bomb!” Logan yelled. 

The pilot turned around just in time to be shot by Ben.

Logan stared in shock. He’d just gotten that man killed.

Ben threw him in the helicopter into the co-pilot’s seat. He sat in the pilot’s seat.

“Sit quietly or I blow your leg off,” Ben said as he laid the gun in his lap to take control of the helicopter. Logan was sure Manticore training including piloting skills of all types. 

\----

As they took to the sky, the copter wobbled as a sudden weight on one side unbalanced them. Alec had leapt onto it. 

Ben had already pulled into the Seattle skyline but he was controlling it with one hand. He grabbed the gun and pointed it at Logan. 

“Don’t move, Alec, or Logan will die. What will you tell Maxie then?”

Alec froze.

Logan was mute as the copter took off. As it turned he noted the pilot had sat up feeling around his chest. With a sigh of relief, he realized the man had been wearing a bullet-proof vest  
and for fifteen minutes, Ben flew on – past the Needle, past the sector limits and over country-side. 

It was the longest 15 minutes of Logan’s life. Ben had rambled on to Alec about how they could share Logan now that he knew Logan was part of him as well as them being a part of Logan. How the upcoming woods would provide cover for the perfect hunt. How they could erase Maxie from Logan’s skin. Whenever Logan tried to turn to look at Alec – Ben raised the gun and told him not to move. Logan shivered from the damp chill now sinking into his bare chest. Ben rubbed the gun along Logan’s side and thighs and began stroking between them.

“Spread your legs, Logan,” Ben said quietly, still looking ahead and flying.

When Logan didn’t comply, he released the safety. Logan slid his legs apart. Ben began to rub the barrel of the gun along Logan’s cock. “Just think of what we talked about Logan. How you’ll be able to feel this sliding inside you,” Ben whispered.

Logan tried not to vomit at the tone in Ben’s voice.

The wind picked up strongly, buffeting the helicopter. Ben lost balance a bit and Logan took a chance. He grabbed the butt of the gun and began wrestling with it. Alec leapt into the fray. The gun changed angles and went off. Instead of hitting Logan or Alec, it went through the roof.

The shock of the blast startled Ben and his hand relaxed a bit. Logan pounded on it until he released the gun, which tumbled to the floor. The helicopter tilted almost sideways. Ben fell towards him but Alec grabbed him and pulled him towards the back.

The helicopter was beginning to careen out of control but Logan grabbed the controls to straighten it out. He’d had a pilot’s license for small aircraft since he was 18. He noticed the gauges were off. They were losing power. 

He could feel Ben and Alec fighting in the back. Each time they tumbled to one side – the copter shifted. Logan saw smoke beginning to billow around them. _‘Shit – they hit something vital,’_ he thought. He struggled to keep them in flight.

Logan noticed there was a wide expanse of trees ahead of them. He pointed the copter in that direction in case they went down.

He felt a fast rush of air and looked back. He was having a hard time controlling the vehicle but he could see that Ben had opened the side unit and had Alec pinned to the floor. He could see Ben was talking animatedly to Alec but couldn’t hear them over the noise of the air and the copter.

He tilted the copter hard to the side which caused Ben to lose his balance and slide backwards. Alec slid towards him as well but was able to roll back over. 

They continued fighting but Logan couldn’t see them – he could only hear an occasional grunt and shuffle. 

The gun had slid under Logan’s feet. He quickly picked it up. Just as he sat back up to take control, an arm reached around his throat. 

“Drop it. Surrender.”

Logan had this silly random thought of an old scene from Galaxy Quest “Never give up, never surrender” go through his head. He pointed the gun and fired at the man’s arm.

Ben screamed and let go. 

Logan turned just in time to see Alec raise his leg and kick Ben out of the open door. Ben went screaming out of the copter and into the trees below.

Alec shut the door and plopped into the seat next to Logan. He stared straight ahead of him, pale.

“Can you fly this thing?” Alec asked without looking at Logan.

“Yeah…Is he…” Logan asked.

Alec looked out the window. “Don’t think anyone would survive that.”

Logan breathed a sigh of relief. The nightmare was over. 

“Wasn’t all his fault,” Alec said quietly.

Logan didn’t answer. He was concentrating on flying and not passing out.

Alec continued on, “It was the Lorazepan. I could smell it in his blood. In Ordinaries – it’s used to ease anxiety and in conscious sedation although it can cause amnesia in high doses but in X-5’s we have a very different reaction.”

“So he’d have been okay once it was out of his system,” Logan asked.

“Well – if he wasn’t a Hunter and hadn’t had prey targeted, yeah...maybe...”

“That means?” Logan asked not sure if he wanted to know.

“Once a Hunter gets the scent of prey in their system, there’s nothing they won’t do to catch them. But the drug probably caused him to trigger – to identify the prey. I’m no expert but that’s part of why he focused on you.”

“I thought it was Max and you and the transfusions?” Logan said.

“Oh yeah – well – those too. Just – there were a lot of factors. The drug was just the catalyst. Don’ ever let anyone give it to me is all I’m saying.”

Logan nodded. He would be damn sure they never had it. 

“We need to crash the copter, Logan,” Alec said after a moment.

“What?

“Too much DNA evidence.”

Logan understood. Couldn’t leave Transgenic blood behind. Although – what was at the hospital might be damning enough. That wasn’t Alec’s real issue but he knew Alec didn’t want to admit it.  


The pilot had seen Ben. The staff had seen Ben. That would make Alec a target unless they thought him dead.

Logan managed to aim the copter towards the trees as well hoping no one lived below them. There was a lake nearby. Just before they hit – Alec and he jumped out into the water hoping it was deep enough. Alec had wrapped himself around Logan to better protect the man.

The shock almost knocked Logan out cold but he felt Alec pull him up above the water and to the shoreline. He tried to stand but wobbled and fell over.

Logan wished he had his exoskeleton. His legs had now given up. He was barely mobile. He could barely stand let alone walk. He could smell the scent of smoke from the crash of the helicopter. He knew emergency crews would be arriving at the site soon. Alec had to partially carry him to safety in the other direction. 

He wondered how he’d get the exoskeleton back. 

He decided it was something to sort out later. At least he was safe and alive for now. Something he was sure he’d never be again.


	10. Animal Instincts

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> See warnings on Chapter 1. Still don't own or make any money on this.

_Chapter 10 – Animal Instincts _

**Three Months Later**

It had been three months. All the injuries had healed and Logan had been able to put the events behind him for the most part. The events at Terminal City had clearly put thoughts of Ben on the back burner. He had had no time to think about it and that was what Logan wanted. To stay busy. To not think of the things that Ben had whispered in his ears about what he wanted to do to Logan and how he would make Alec and Max watch and then kill them. He’d never told them. Ben was dead. The fall from the helicopter would have killed anyone. They had not seen nor heard anything about him but they heard about the remains of a John Doe that had been found nearby that sounded like him. Max had followed up and found remnants of the torn pants Ben had worn that day. It was in the past. 

At first, he found himself trying not be alone but without trying to seem like it. He spent more time in places like Crash surrounded by people or with Max when she wasn’t needed by the other Transgenics. He wasn’t fond of being alone anymore. Gave him too much to think about.

He knew Alec was hurt by his early avoidance and Logan had made a concerted effort with him. Alec had, in the end, saved him and it wasn’t his fault Logan could barely look at him in the first month after the events. He forced himself to act normal but he knew Alec could smell the trepidation and fear that rolled off Logan when Alec stood behind him too closely or whispered in his ear at the bar. Alec laughed it off but he knew it had hurt the man. They had just started becoming friends when the whole things happened. He knew Alec didn’t have many friends and Logan had wanted to be that for him. He didn’t want to lose one of his few real friends because he looked like Logan’s attacker. 

He’d apologized a thousand times. Alec tried to be understanding – sometimes more than Logan would have expected. Logan tried to move on. Now a few months later, Logan only had the occasional nightmare and Alec was Alec again. Sometimes he still had issues when Alec stopped by unexpectedly or if he got too close without warning, but overall things were mostly normal. Logan was grateful Alec had even attempted to remain friends. 

Logan had been confused as to why Alec tried so hard. He had thought Alec hadn’t cared for him much before the events with Ben transpired. They had tolerated each other, had worked out an amicable and friendly accord, but Logan never thought Alec wanted to be close friends. He always thought Max would stand between them –a white elephant – but even that had subsided. These days Alec had seemed to want to spend more time with Logan than Max, sometimes seeming to just tolerate her for missions. Logan figured he’d moved on from Max as Alec could pretty much have any woman he wanted. He’d had few male friends and maybe Logan fit that bill. Didn’t matter – Logan was pleased at the results. They had started movie night awhile ago to help them learn to be alone together and now they had a pleasant time together during their weekly evening off. 

Max had been reluctant the first time to leave them alone but realized they both needed it. Max was overly protective of Logan but everyone knew why. She blamed herself for not being there. At times she blamed Alec for not being there fast enough. Other times she blamed Logan for going at all. Half of Logan’s recovery was making sure Max didn’t run away altogether. She didn’t but instead she had become heavy handed in protecting him and the others took it as their mission to be on his six at all times. He didn’t mind it so much and she was finally starting to let go a little.

\---

Alec was still a bit off kilter about being alone with Logan but he couldn’t help himself. He thought the desire would have waned by now. He was sure if he avoided Logan, the instinct would have passed. It hadn’t. In fact – the near distance of seeing him only at Crash and only near Max made him more desperate to get close to Logan – to re-establish dominance.

Ben had been right – the hunter instinct was something born within them, in their DNA. Alec’s training had suppressed it. Until now nothing had happened that had awaken the urge to hunt, take, and possess prey. He was never aware the urge existed with exception of X-5 pheromones for mating. Max exuded them during her heat cycles. He sensed those same pheromones in Logan now from the continual donations - weaker but they were in him full time. And when he mated with Max- it was stronger.

Both Ben and Alec responded to those pheromones – they had been built to. Their DNA was paired to Max’s. DNA. That’s what Ben had told him on the copter. But those same pheromones were inside Logan and combined with their own scent that their senses translated as a mark of ownership overwrote everything and claimed Logan as theirs. Alec hated it. 

The only reason Alec could tolerate Logan being with Max was his match to her DNA – but it rubbed him raw. It was probably why she could only partially tolerate Alec. She was probably drawn to him but having him inside Logan overwrote that when combined with her emotional attachment to him. Logan had become the center of their universe. He would never tell her even though he was well aware of it.

He had tried to stop donating blood – but the first time someone else offered – outside of Max as he knew he couldn’t win that battle – his instincts riled up and took over. He needed to be a part of Logan and have Logan a part of him, even in this small way. He used every bit of his training to keep all his other instincts under control.

He wondered if Max felt this possessive of Logan. Surely her cocktail was similar to his. Might explain her over protective stance towards Logan the last few months and the fact she hated leaving Logan with anyone else. Convincing her that Logan was safe with him had been difficult.

Now he needed to convince himself Logan was safe in his company. The movie nights actually helped. By giving him some time alone with the man – his inner beast felt some ownership. Of course, every night he’d have to leave to find a way to relieve himself. Unlike Ben, his desires focused more on lust than blood. He couldn’t deny them though because when Logan had cut himself on a broken glass Alec had to run out before he lost control. He had wanted to jumped Logan and lick the blood clean. Part of him wanted to bite and tear into Logan. 

It had made Alec as nauseous as it had excited him. That had been a close call but Alec managed to rein his desires in after he left and found a willing body to lose himself in. It wasn’t right – but it had been enough. It would have to continue to be. 

He swore if he ever felt himself truly slipping – he would leave town. He just couldn’t bring himself to do it yet.

\---

Logan was expecting the knock. It was Wednesday and he thought Alec said he’d found a dvd of “The Fugitive.” 

“Come on in,” Logan called out to the door. He was popping popcorn and getting some drinks together. Alec had his own key but never entered anymore until Logan gave the okay. Logan was grateful for that bit of consideration.

“Hey, Logan,” the man said as he entered. “How are you?”

“Great. Should be done in a second here. The player’s hooked up. Go ahead at put the movie in.”

“Max is out?”

“Yup - as usual it’s boys’ night she left about ten minutes ago. She won’t be back for awhile.” Logan walked back into the Living Room.

“Good. I’ve been looking forward to this.” Alec was standing behind the couch and handed the movie to Logan. “Not sure how to do this,” he said.

Logan looked at him oddly but took the movie. He handed Alec the bowl of popcorn and crossed the room. “It’s not any different than the Blu-Ray.” He put the movie in.

Logan grabbed the remote and sat on the couch. “You joining me, Alec?” He asked as he looked up. He didn’t see the side of the popcorn bowl as it crashed into the side of his face. He fell off the couch and onto the floor.

Dazed, he looked up and saw blood dripping over his right eye. 

The man hunched over him and said, “Not Alec…” with a grin.

“Ben…” was all Logan was able to get out before the man pulled his arm back backhanded Logan across the jaw. The force of the punch turned Logan’s head to just the right angle that he could see Alec lying in a pool of blood just outside his half open door. He couldn’t tell if he was alive or not.

“Now – we’re going to have some fun until Max gets back…”

Logan eyes widened at the sound of Ben’s whistling as he pulled a cloth from his back pocket and covered Logan’s face. The smell was instantly recognizable – chloroform. He tried not to breath but eventually he succumbed, unable to get away from Ben’s firm hold on his face.

\---

Logan woke groggy and realized he was in his own room. He heard voices muttering. He couldn’t make out the words but both voices were low and male.

He closed his eyes again to try to get his head together. He tried to shift and panicked as he realized his arms were tied to the headboard.

He opened his eyes slightly, unable to resist seeing what his situation was.

He could see down the length of his body and saw he was naked and spread-eagled on the bed. Quietly he shifted his legs to confirm his fear. Yes – his legs were also bound.

He saw blood streaked along his bare chest and soon the burn of the shallow cuts registered. 

He saw – Ben? tied to a chair at the foot of the bed watching him intently. What? That didn’t make any sense. He had blood smeared across his face. 

He heard someone in the bathroom clattering around. He turned his heads towards it and then back at Ben.

No – Alec. He realized it was Alec tied to the chair. The fact that Logan could see that made him realize his glasses were still on. He hoped Alec hadn’t been hurt too badly but he was damn glad he was alive. The man was trying to mouth something at Logan but Logan couldn’t quite understand it. He knew why he wasn’t whispering – Ben would have heard him. He could see Alec was flushed and was struggling in his bonds. 

“Ah – found it.” Ben said as he sauntered out of the bathroom seemingly oblivious to a naked and bleeding man tied to the bed and another man tied to a chair. He was holding something in his hand but Logan couldn’t make out what it was. 

“Needed some alcohol to make this sterile,” Ben said as he laid whatever was in his hand on the nightstand. Logan turned to see it, but whatever it was had been hidden by the book Max had laid there the night before. Ben began touching Logan’s face and stroking the exposed underside of his arms.

“Ben, what are you doing?” Alec asked. Logan was glad for the distraction. The way Ben was looking at him was disturbing and all his nightmares were returning tenfold.

“You know, Alec, there are more – pleasurable ways to get and keep our scent in Logan,” Ben said he lowered his hand to trail a light finger along Logan’s chest and through the blood on it. He licked it up and then smeared more on his fingers. He then walked to Alec and smeared Logan’s blood on Alec’s lips and just under his nose. “You don’t have to transfuse blood to own him.”  
“That’s not why we transfuse,” Logan started to say.

Ben turned towards Logan and walked back. “Logan – I know why. You need us. You need me and Alec or you break. Max broke you. It’s taken months but I’ve learned all about it – all about you. You are my only mission now.” He stood over Logan and caressed his legs. “It’s her fault your wings snapped. She doesn’t deserve you. She doesn’t deserve to be in you.” Ben sniffed around Logan’s face but more at the pillows beside him. Logan knew her scent would be strong in their bed. “Or on you.” 

Ben threw the pillow off the bed. He held up a small syringe he picked up from the nightstand and injected Logan in the tender flesh just under the arm.  
“What the hell was that?” Logan asked in a voice about two octaves higher than usual. 

Ben patted his face and smiled. Then he and stood up and returned to Alec.

Ben cupped Alec’s face. “Since I’m you and you’re me – you can help me make sure Logan stays ours. We can alternate transfusions. We can finally get rid of Max.” He turned back towards Logan and picked up a knife off the bed that Logan hadn’t noticed before. He began to slice down the side of Logan’s leg. Logan knew it wasn’t deep but it was sharp and painful. “He won’t need her anymore. Then he’ll belong to no one but us. And we can play all we want.” He began to lick at the wound he just created.

“Dude – I am not you. You’re nuts,” Alec said. Ben stood up and backhanded Alec across the jaw.

\---

Max had been concerned as she walked into Crash. It took everything in her to leave Logan with Alec every week. She took the long route to the bar to clear her head. She hated having these uncontrollable jealous flashes. She was glad Logan had gotten over the trauma of Ben and that being friends with Alec had actually helped – but something about Alec was setting her off lately. She knew intellectually that was stupid. Alec had saved Logan. Alec continually donated his blood – almost as much as Max and for some reason Max resented it. She resented when she could smell Alec inside Logan when he accidentally cut himself shaving – or that time he broke the glass.

Her own scent was stronger in him and she knew it was ridiculous. She wasn’t an animal. She wasn’t a slave to instinct but even she admitted to being far more sexual with Logan right after Alec would donate to him as if she needed to reestablish her place by Logan’s side.

She shook her head. She was being an idiot. She hated having these kinds of feelings. Maybe being in love was supposed to be like that. How would she know? Logan had been her first and only love. Sex-he certainly wasn’t - but that was different. And she hated when her mating instinct had driven her to be with people she didn’t like. With Logan it was so different. 

“Boo – where you been?” Original Cindy, Max’s long-time and best friend was sitting at the bar waiting for her to cross the bar.

“Sorry – bad head space tonight. Just thinking about stuff,” Max said.

“No more thinking, ladies,” Sketchy said as he approached the table, arms filled with pitcher of beer. “It is our time.”  


“Like you ever think,” OC quipped.

Max smiled and sat down. 

“No thinking, no working, no being interrupted tonight. I insist,” Sketchy added. He always complained how Max always seemed to get a bug in her but shortly after arriving and left them in the lurch.

Max felt her heart sink. “Damn – I forgot my phone,” she said. “I have to go get it.

“Forget about it, Max. One night without a phone won’t kill you,” Sketchy said. He had no idea what had happened to Logan or how much Max worried about him. Max had only told those who could help protect him but not more. Logan had been embarrassed by the whole thing.

OC did know. “Boo, I’m sure he’ll be fine. He’s got Alec with him, doesn’t he?” she whispered in a soft voice.

“What’s with them anyways? How come I don’t get the big invite for movie night?” Sketchy asked, hearing their whispered conversation.

“You, fool, get to be with two beautiful women instead so whatcha complaining about? Or do you want to be with the pretty boys, Sketchy? Changing your mind on the side you’re on?” OC teased.  
“No – but he does have a huge plasma,” Sketchy said dreamily. 

“Is that what it’s called these days? Never knew you were interested in Logan’s ‘plasma’,“ OC laughed as she did air quotes for the word ‘plasma’.

Max laughed but got up. “Sorry – I’d really feel better if Logan could reach me. You understand, right?” She looked at OC. 

“Sure, Boo, but one of these days you need to let go. You’re smothering the boy,” her friend said sympathetically.

“I promise to come back though. Wouldn’t want to damper Logan’s plan of impersonating of Deputy Gerard’s “Fugitive” speech for Alec.” She grinned. Logan had a way of doing goofy impersonations that very few people saw. Alec was one of those people. Her stomach turned again at the thought that Logan shared something with Alec that he shared with Max. She shook her head at her own stupid and unwarranted jealousy.

\---

Logan felt Ben’s hand on his groin. His left hand began slowly pumping Logan’s cock while the other used the blade of the knife the trace small shallow cuts along Logan’s stomach, chest, thighs and arms.

Unable to prevent it, he felt himself harden under Ben’s ministrations. He was mortified that his body responded. The fear alone should have prevented that. He felt hot and, unaccountably, was becoming aroused. 

Ben’s grip was hard, almost painful as if he were desperate to pull Logan to completion. Logan closed his eyes. He couldn’t stand seeing both Ben and Alec watching him as his hips thrust into Ben’s hands.

Logan came without ceremony but with quiet tears.

He kept his eyes closed to hide himself from his shame. He felt fingers skim across his stomach, swiping through the mixed fluids there.

“Delicious,” Ben whispered.

Logan felt Ben’s weight lift off the bed and he opened his eyes in time to see his wiping his fingers on Alec’s lips. Alec glared at Ben.

“Lick them, Alec. Lick them clean or I’ll Logan up more,” Ben said, standing there quietly.

Alec looked to Logan who looked away in shame.

Logan assumed he did was he was told. He could hear the sounds of licking and slurping. Ben was whispering, “See – taste how he belongs to us.”

He heard a low growl of approval that he assumed came from Ben.

Just then - a loud crash came through the room and Logan looked up in time to see Max flying. Within seconds, she had round housed Ben in the side, knocking him against the wall. She then unceremoniously hauled him up and threw him out the window.

Like that it was over. Logan and Alec stared in shock at her.

She turned to them looking back and forth as if deciding what to do next. She untied Alec. “Take care of him. I’m going to make sure that bastard is dead this time,” she said as she sped out of the room and to the street.

Alec blinked away the shock and went over to Logan and carefully untied him.

“Alec,” Logan started. “I’m so…”

“No – don’t talk.” Alec picked up the syringe and sniffed it. He shook it at Logan. “Aphrodisiac. I remember it from ops training,” he said without emotion.

Logan knew there was a world of pain behind that simple sentence. He chose not to pursue it.

“Hospital?” Alec asked.

“No – too many questions. Go help Max. Get him.” Logan said feeling helpless and embarrassed.

“She’d kill me if I left you,” Alec said. 

“And I will if you don’t,” Logan said trying to look stern.

Alec laughed, “Well – I’m more afraid of her than you.” 

Logan stared and then started laughing – almost a hysterical laugh and it became too much. Alec joined in as he helped Logan to the shower. 

Logan felt marginally better after washing. He wasn’t sure what to do next.

\---

Alec didn’t feel better and also didn’t know what to do. 

Watching Logan wash and helped him tend to his cuts, Alec became quite aware that the taste of Logan was still in his mouth and he wanted more. It was everything he could do keep his cool.

Max returned to announce that she’d tracked Ben who had survived the fall but was badly injured and unconscious. Unfortunately, other people had also found him. A crowd had gathered and an ambulance had been called. He’d gotten some distance away so no one knew where he had come from. Instead, Max called in an anonymous tip that the injured person in the ambulance was the same person that had killed those people in the hospital. She knew at least they’d take extra precautions with him this time and she’d have time to move Logan to Joshua’s old place. The apartment was no longer safe.

“Pack some things. We’re leaving,” Max ordered.

Logan nodded. He knew what Max was thinking. He didn’t disagree. He could come back later for the bigger items. He’d have to rethink his permanent living arrangements later.

Alec helped him pack. 

Once Logan and Max were safely ensconced at Joshua’s and adamant about needing some alone time, Alec returned to Logan’s apartment. 

He hugged Logan’s pillow to him and tried to get the images of Logan helpless, naked and bleeding out of his mind. He certainly tried to not find those images appealing.

Ben may be gone but Alec was afraid that somehow he’d been reborn within himself.

But he couldn’t bring himself to leave. He’d found he wanted to keep Logan for himself. He just wasn’t sure how he was going to do it yet.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hopefully the original prompter likes this even though I went a bit off course...


End file.
